Markets are mechanisms for coordinating the set of connections of production operations that are distributed throughout the whole economic system.

Markets are mechanisms for coordinating the set of connections of production operations that are 

distributed throughout the whole economic system. Thus, the market is the predominant and 

determining link between producers of goods and services and consumers. Accordingly, markets, as 

an exchange of goods and services that takes place as a result of buyers and sellers interactions, are 

generally considered the most efficient allocator of resources in the market economy.  

However, free markets are not allowed to solve some of the social problems in a society due to 

various reasons. One such social problem is illegal drugs. Another example is environmental issues 

such as pollutions. For an additional example for a social problem, where supply and demand is not 

allowed to freely function, conduct basic research on markets for human organs. There are black 

markets (underground economy) for human organs in some countries. But a trade in human organs, 

based on supply and demand, raises ethical issues and hence it indicates a limitation of relying on 

markets to solve the social problems we have in the society.  

Course outcome(s) practiced and assessed in this Assignment: 

GB540-1: Evaluate ethical issues in economics. 

Directions  

Your research should be about social problems where the free markets are not allowed to function, 

which includes the market for a particular illegal good and service, a regulated market, etc.  

● Select a social problem where free markets are not allowed to function, and conduct research 

on the social problem.  

● Describe how free market features could be introduced to help alleviate the social problem 

through free market operations of supply and demand.  

● Discuss the risks of introducing market mechanisms of supply and demand in situations where 

ethical issues are present.  

● Explain four roles of the government in maintaining ethical business practices. 

Criteria 

●

● It must be a minimum of 5 pages long (excluding title and references, etc.)  

● You must use a variety of three objective, high quality, and current sources. Peer reviewed 

articles, articles published in journals, textbooks, and library resources found in the Library are 

examples of high quality resources. 

● Note that Wikipedia, Investopedia, etc. are not considered as reliable resources for this 

research.