Figure17-4An Artificially Scarce Good An artificially scarce good is excludable and nonrival in consumption. It is made artificially scarce because producers charge a positive price, but the marginal cost of allowing one more person to consume the good is zero. In this example, the market price of an on-demand movie is $4 and the quantity demanded at that price is Q_MKT. But the efficient level of consumption is Q_OPT, the quantity demanded when the price is zero. The efficient quantity, Q_OPT, exceeds the quantity demanded in an unregulated market, Q_MKT. The shaded area represents the loss in total surplus from charging a price of $4.