Finally, market power can contribute to market failure. Market power is the ability to influence price in the market. A monopolist, for example, charges a higher price than would be the case in a competitive industry. It is not the high price or the resulting profit that is problematic, so much as the deadweight loss caused by pricing above marginal cost. Whenever individual actors can alter the market price, on either the buyer or seller side, there is the potential for price being different from marginal cost, creating with it deadweight loss.
Economic analysis features prominently in most antitrust litigation.
Some economists may say that the market fails in some respects even if it allocates resources efficiently. In particular, the market may fail to allocate resources or wealth in a fair or equitable manner. The extent to which government policies should be used to redistribute wealth to create more equity is a controversial issue. Economists are somewhat limited in the debate to normative opinions, lacking a theory to describe fairness, but the issues remain important.