Key Terms

Question

Price controls
Price ceiling
Price floor
Inefficient allocation to consumers
Wasted resources
Inefficiently low quality
Black markets
Minimum wage
Inefficient allocation of sales among sellers
Inefficiently high quality
Quantity control or quota
License
Demand price
Supply price
Wedge
Quota rent
Deadweight loss
Progressive tax
Regressive tax
Proportional tax
Excise tax
Tax incidence
Administrative costs
Lump-sum tax
a market in which goods or services are bought and sold illegally, either because it is illegal to sell them at all or because the prices charged are legally prohibited by a price ceiling.
a form of inefficiency in which people who want a good badly and are willing to pay a high price don’t get it, and those who care relatively little about the good and are only willing to pay a low price do get it; often a result of a price ceiling.
a tax that takes a larger share of the income of high-income taxpayers than of low-income taxpayers.
a form of inefficiency in which sellers who would be willing to sell a good at the lowest price are not always those who actually manage to sell it; often the result of a price floor.
the distribution of the tax burden.
a form of inefficiency in which people expend money, effort, and time to cope with the shortages caused by a price ceiling.
a form of inefficiency in which sellers offer low-quality goods at a low price even though buyers would prefer a higher quality at a higher price; often a result of a price ceiling.
the difference between the demand price of the quantity transacted and the supply price of the quantity transacted for a good when the supply of the good is legally restricted. Often created by a quota or a tax.
the price of a given quantity at which consumers will demand that quantity.
losses associated with quantities of output that are greater than or less than the efficient level, as can result from market intervention such as taxes, or from externalities such as pollution.
the right, conferred by the government or an owner, to supply a good or service.
the earnings that accrue to the license-holder from ownership of the right to sell the good.
the maximum price sellers are allowed to charge for a good or service; a form of price control.
the resources used (which is a cost) by government to collect the tax, and by taxpayers to pay it, over and above the amount of the tax, as well as to evade it.
the price of a given quantity at which producers will supply that quantity.
an upper limit, set by the government, on the quantity of some good that can be bought or sold; also referred to as a quota.
taxes that don’t depend on the taxpayer’s income.
legal restrictions on how high or low a market price may go.
a legal floor on the wage rate. The wage rate is the market price of labor.
a form of inefficiency in which sellers offer high-quality goods at a high price even though buyers would prefer a lower quality at a lower price; often the result of a price floor.
the minimum price buyers are required to pay for a good or service; a form of price control.
a tax that is the same percentage of the tax base regardless of the taxpayer’s income or wealth.
a tax on sales of a particular good or service.
a tax that takes a smaller share of the income of high-income taxpayers than of low-income taxpayers.

Price controls

Price ceiling

Price floor

Inefficient allocation to consumers

Wasted resources

Inefficiently low quality

Black markets

Minimum wage

Inefficient allocation of sales among sellers

Inefficiently high quality

Quantity control or quota

License

Demand price

Supply price

Wedge

Quota rent

Deadweight loss

Progressive tax

Regressive tax

Proportional tax

Excise tax

Tax incidence

Administrative costs

Lump-sum tax