CHAPTER 16 • General Equilibrium and Economic Efficiency 609 the prices of the goods are determined by the combined choices of demanders and suppliers of goods The Economic Efficiency of Competitive Markets We can now understand one of the fundamental results of microeconomic analysis We can see from point C in Figure 16.7 that the allocation in a competitive equilibrium is Pareto efficient The key reason why this is so is that C must occur at the tangency of two indifference curves If it does not, one of the Jameses or one of the Karens will not be achieving maximum satisfaction; he or she will be willing to trade to achieve a higher level of utility This result holds in an exchange framework and in a general equilibrium setting in which all markets are perfectly competitive It is the most direct way of illustrating the workings of Adam Smith’s famous invisible hand, because it tells us that the economy will automatically allocate resources in a Pareto efficient manner without the need for regulatory control It is the independent actions of consumers and producers, who take prices as given, that allows markets to function in an economically efficient manner Not surprisingly, the invisible-hand result is often used as the norm against which the workings of all real-world markets are compared For some, the invisible hand supports the normative argument for less government intervention; they argue that markets are highly competitive For others, the invisible hand supports a more expansive role for government; they reply that intervention is needed to make markets more competitive Whatever one’s view of government intervention, most economists consider the invisible-hand result important In fact, the result that a competitive equilibrium is Pareto efficient is often described as the first theorem of welfare economics, which involves the normative evaluation of markets and economic policy Formally, the first theorem states the following: If everyone trades in the competitive marketplace, all mutually beneficial trades will be completed and the resulting equilibrium allocation of resources will be Pareto efficient Let’s summarize what we know about a competitive equilibrium from the consumer’s perspective: Because the indifference curves are tangent, all marginal rates of substitution between consumers are equal Because each indifference curve is tangent to the price line, each person’s MRS of clothing for food is equal to the ratio of the prices of the two goods To be as clear as possible, we will use the notation MRSFC to denote the MRS of food for clothing Then, if PC and PF are the two prices, MRS JFC = PF/PC = MRSKFC (16.1) To achieve a Pareto efficient allocation when there are many consumers (and many producers) is not easy It can be done if all markets are perfectly • welfare economics Normative evaluation of markets and economic policy