More Assumptions

But, for this to work, the following also has to be true:

1.  The market must be perfectly competitive.

2. The market must be perfectly free.

3. There must be so many firms and households that the actions of one have no affect on the other. No one may have so big a share of the market that their actions alone may move prices or supply.

4. The total quantity and quality of the resources must be constant

5. Ultimately, the payments going to the firms must equal the payments to the household. This is inevitable if the system is closed.

Sounds Crazy, but it works well enough.  It may even work really well in traditional society!

pareto efficiency

household demand