Читать книгу Market Theory and the Price System - Israel M. Kirzner - Страница 38

Chapter 3 examines the operation of a market system, with respect to the way it achieves the goals or functions that its participants may seek to fulfill through this means of social organization.

An “economic problem” consists for an individual in ensuring that the resources at his disposal be utilized in the most effective manner possible, from the point of view of his own cherished goals. With some reservations, it is possible to speak of an economic problem facing society in general, and of the “efficiency” with which a form of social organization fulfills the goals set for it.

For a system of social cooperation, efficiency requires the coordination of separate activities. Social cooperation opens up the way to the improved fulfillment of individual wants through division of labor; but division of labor is beneficial only where carried on in a coordinated fashion. Coordination involves (a) the development of a priority system for the satisfaction of wants, (b) some way of determining the method of production to be employed for each adopted project, and (c) a way of assigning rewards to the individuals cooperating jointly in productive activities.

The market simultaneously solves these coordinating problems through the price system. Prices determine the priority with which the various possible products will be produced on the basis of consumer demand working through the entrepreneurial search for profits. The same process guides entrepreneurs to the employment of definite methods of production (those which can achieve a given result at the lowest money cost). At the same time the pricing process assigns prices to the services of those cooperating in production. The driving force in the process is thus the entrepreneurial search for profits, leading to the production of products commanding the highest prices (for given production costs) and to the employment of the resources involving least cost (for a given productive purpose).