Talk:Economic efficiency

Some misgivings

I have drafted this in terms that were once familiar to me (a very long time ago!) but I see that many current text books and encylopedias ignore the concept of efficiency altogether, and others either define its components in a variety of different ways, or lump them all together in one portmanto definition. That has me worrying whether this article is useful. It is highly conceptual and does not seem to have a great deal of practical application. The main uses to which I have put it to are:

• (a) to draw the distinction between allocative efficiency (which removing barriers to competition should increase) and productive efficiency (which the same action can sometimes diminish); and,
• (b) to set the scene for, and provide a space-saving link from, the unwritten article on cost/benefit analysis.

But it is arguably a heavy-handed way of doing either.

Advice, please! Nick Gardner 10:23, 11 November 2007 (CST)