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Social Sciences and History / Unit 13   SSH 1219 short lesson, about 20 seconds

Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus, Deadweight Loss

Captions available

The idea

Consumer surplus is what consumers would have paid minus what they paid. Producer surplus is the price received minus the least producers would have accepted. Their sum, social surplus, is largest at equilibrium; deadweight loss is surplus lost at an inefficient quantity.

In practice

Two triangles meeting at the equilibrium point.

Where people slip

Economic and total surplus are synonyms for social surplus.

Your place on the trail

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