As we’ve learned in earlier lessons, markets tend to achieve equilibrium prices and quantities that are efficient, as the marginal benefit of a product to its consumers equals the marginal cost to producers. But what makes outcomes other than equilibrium inefficient? This lesson looks at the impact of disequilibria on consumer and producer surplus, introducing the concept of “deadweight loss” or “welfare loss”, which will further help us understand what makes outcomes other than the equilibrium quantity and price inefficient.
