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Market Failure In The Australian Economy

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Discuss costs and benefits of government intervention to correct market failure in the Australian economy. Market failure is a situation where pure market forces such as the operation of the price mechanism fail to produce goods at a socially optimum level. In Australia’s mixed market economy, government intervenes to correct market failures. This can lead to environmental efficiency, productivity, additional revenue and employment however it can also reduce consumer welfare and cause government failure. • Government intervention corrects market failure resulting in environmental sustainability and improved accessibility to services. Goods or services with negative externalities are market failures because the operation of the price mechanism …show more content…

In the case of Australian healthcare, subsidization results in less competition in the market since ‘artificially’ low prices act as a barrier to entry of new more efficient firms. Lack of competition leads to firms not improving their systems and practices, making them inefficient. Consequently, subsidized Medicare also fails to achieve social interests-explain what medicare is more properly. Recently, there have been complaints regarding the poor quality of care in hospitals. Further, the waiting periods for patients waiting to undergo Knee Replacement Surgery is a median of 216 days thus decreasing their living standards. Similarly, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is failing to provide cost-effective medications. For example, Atorvastatin, highly prescribed drug, costs $2.01 in New Zealand compared to $38.69 in Australia causing a loss of 1.3 billion dollars every year. Therefore, government intervention has led to inefficiency in the workings and resource allocation. • Government intervention to correct market failure can lead to increased revenue and reduction in unemployment. The revenue generated from carbon tax in two years was $15 billion. Governments can reallocate this revenue to other economic transactions such as the provision of necessary public goods like roads. The Medicare scheme, since 1985,

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