Which of the following scenarios represents a complete market failure, rather than a partial market failure?
A private utility company provides high-speed fiber broadband to a metropolitan area but charges a monopoly price where price exceeds marginal cost (P>MCP > MCP>MC), leading to restricted consumer access.
A commercial timber corporation harvests wood from an ancient forest but ignores the negative impact of biodiversity loss on local eco-tourism.
No private firm is willing to construct and operate a regional coastal flood defense barrier because non-excludability prevents them from charging users.
Young adults purchase fewer preventative healthcare screening packages than is socially optimal due to a lack of awareness of long-term health risks.
378 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Economics 1.8 The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets, covering 1.8.1 How markets and prices allocate resources, 1.8.2 The meaning of market failure, 1.8.3 Public goods, private goods and quasi-public goods, 1.8.4 Positive and negative externalities in consumption and production, 1.8.5 Merit and demerit goods, 1.8.6 Market imperfections, 1.8.7 Competition policy (A-level only), 1.8.8 Public ownership, privatisation, regulation and deregulation of markets (A-level only), 1.8.9 Government intervention in markets, and 1.8.10 Government failure. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.