Advantages And Disadvantages Of Government Intervention

1) Government may intervene in a market in order to try and restore economic efficiency. One of the ways the government intervention can help overcome market failure is through the introduction of a price floors and price ceilings. If prices are seen to be too high, price ceiling or a maximum price could be imposed on a market in order to moderate the price of the product. This policy is often used when there are concerns that consumers cannot afford an essential product, such as groceries. The effect of a maximum price could create a shortage as it could lead to demand exceeding supply for that particular good. Price floors however are minimum prices that the government sets when the prices of products are too low and they think producers are in need of assistance. Besides that, direct provision is another method of government intervention. The main economic justification for the provision of these goods is that, they may not be produced by the market otherwise since zero monetary profit would be made from its

Regulations that the government implement, licensing for example, increases the barrier of entry into the market and decreases ways for the traders to gratify consumer demand. This case is prevalent in the monopoly market. The market is sometimes best to decide how much and what to produce since it has better information and knowledge of the consumers compared to the government. Economic decisions may also not be competent when the government is motivated by political power rather than economic imperatives. Sometimes, economic policies are designed to retain power rather than to ensure maximum efficiency in the economy. Thus, an unpopular tax on a product that produces negative externalities, such as car use that creates environmental damage, may be avoided due to the fact that the government is afraid of losing support from the