Our economy would work just as well without middlemen since they do not expand the availability of physical goods. Middlemen reduce the number of transactions since they increase the buyer's price and reduce the seller's net receipts. Middlemen create value by arranging trades and providing information to buyers and sellers. A nation with cheap, efficient communications is likely to be richer, ceteris paribus, because transaction costs will be lower and trade greater. When private ownership of a resource is clearly defined and enforced, the private owner has a strong incentive to consider the wishes of others when deciding how to employ the resource.
Private ownership undermines the conservation of resources.
With private ownership, owners are held accountable for using their resources in a manner that harms the resources of others. Private ownership encourages people to act selfishly toward others. With private ownership, resource owners have little incentive to consider the preferences of others when deciding how to employ a resource. The production possibilities curve illustrates the basic principle that an economy's capacity to produce increases in proportion to its population. It assumes a fixed level of technology.