OCR A-Level Economics H460
Introduction to Microeconomics
Microeconomics: The Role of Markets
Microeconomics: Business Objectives
Microeconomics: Market Structures
Microeconomics: The Labour Market
Macroeconomics: Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
Macroeconomics: Economic Policy Objectives
Macroeconomics: Implementing Policy
Macroeconomics: The Global Context
Macroeconomics: The Financial Sector
Quantitative Skills for Economics
Themes in Economics: Synoptic Application
Microeconomics: The Role of Markets
Information failure, asymmetric information and merit and demerit goods
- 3 things to know
- Component 01
Overview
Recall questions on information failure, asymmetric information, adverse selection and moral hazard, and the definition, examples and normative nature of merit and demerit goods.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What is an everyday example of moral hazard?
Why does information failure cause a misallocation of resources?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Define information failure.
Model answer
A situation in which economic agents lack the full or accurate information needed to make the decision that would maximise their welfare.
- 2
Why does information failure cause a misallocation of resources?
Model answer
Agents misjudge the value of goods, so they consume too much or too little of them relative to the socially optimum quantity.
- 3
Define asymmetric information.
Model answer
A situation in which one party to a transaction holds more or better information than the other.
- 4
What is an example of asymmetric information in a market?
Model answer
The seller of a used car knows its faults and history while the buyer does not.
- 5
What is adverse selection?
Model answer
The tendency for the worst risks or lowest quality goods to be the ones most likely to enter a market when one side is better informed than the other.
- 6
Define moral hazard.
Model answer
A situation in which one party takes greater risks because another party bears the cost of the consequences.
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