Case Study

Evaluating a Community Organizer's Trading Plan

A community organizer wants to facilitate trades for a specific used textbook. After a survey, they have a list of four potential buyers with their maximum willingness to pay (WTP) and four potential sellers with their minimum acceptable price (their cost). The data is as follows:

Buyers' WTP:

  • Ana: $50
  • Ben: $45
  • Chloe: $40
  • David: $30

Sellers' Costs:

  • Xavier: $20
  • Yasmin: $25
  • Zoe: $35
  • Walter: $42

The organizer, hoping to help as many people as possible, proposes that all four buyers should trade with all four sellers and suggests the following specific pairings:

  • Ana buys from Walter
  • Ben buys from Zoe
  • Chloe buys from Yasmin
  • David buys from Xavier

Critically evaluate the organizer's proposal. Is this set of trades the most economically efficient allocation possible? Justify your conclusion by comparing the total economic benefit (total surplus) generated by the organizer's plan to the surplus generated by the trades that would occur if buyers and sellers were free to trade to maximize mutual benefit.

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Updated 2025-08-13

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