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Card 6 / 8:
Explain how the profit-maximizing rule of setting P = MC leads a perfectly competitive market to be allocatively efficient.
Think of the market price as representing the gain to society from a purchase, since it represents what someone is willing to pay. Think of the marginal cost as representing the cost to society from making the last unit of a good. If P > MC, then the benefits from producing more of a good exceed the costs, and society would gain from producing more of the good. If P < MC, then the social costs of producing the marginal good exceed the social benefits, and society should produce less of the good. Only if P = MC, the rule applied by a profit-maximizing perfectly competitive firm, will society’s costs and benefits be in balance. This choice will be the option that brings the greatest overall benefit to society.
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