Government Failure is a phenomenon that occurs when the government’s intervention in the economy or society produces outcomes that are worse than if the government had not intervened at all. Formally defined as ‘When the government intervention leads to an inefficient allocation of resources and a net welfare loss.’ While the government is often seen as the solution to various social and economic problems, its interventions can have unintended consequences that lead to inefficiency, waste, and even harm. One tangible example of this would be the Common Agricultural Policy. The CAP was intended to solve market failure in agriculture and protect farmers’ incomes, but the EU did not take into account minimum prices would lead to over-supply; there were also unintended consequences of trade wars and environmental problems from farmers trying to supply as much as they could, and there was a reduction of international competitiveness for the farmers who were subject to CAP.  

There are many reasons why government failure occurs. One of the main reasons is the lack of information and knowledge (Information gaps). Government officials often do not have the necessary information to make the right decisions, which can also be known as asymmetric information, which can lead to ineffective policies being implemented. Additionally, politicians may have incentives to prioritise their own interests rather than the common good. Which can result in policies that benefit a select few at the expense of the majority. Finally, government failure can occur due to political constraints. Politicians may face pressure from interest groups or powerful lobbies, which can influence their decisions. Additionally, political polarisation and gridlock can prevent governments from taking action, even when it is necessary.

Another cause of Government failure is unintended consequences; this is when the actions of producers and consumers have unexpected or unintended consequences; for example, with government policies, consumers can react in unexpected ways. A policy could be undermined making government policies inexpensive to implement since it is harder to achieve their original goals. This is partly because economics is a social science, so we cannot accurately predict how producers and consumers react to an intervention.

A real example of this is the Truss mini budget that was implemented in September 2022; this aimed to cut taxes which led to concerns about the mini budget, resulting in the pound becoming less attractive to investors – so the value of sterling fell when compared with the dollar. That meant it would cost more to import things we needed from abroad and would decrease investor confidence for the UK. This might decrease Aggregate Demand which could be bad for the UK’s GDP. This shows us how a government policy led to unintended consequences.

Furthermore, government failure can lead to excessive administrative costs. This describes when the social benefits of a policy might not be worth the financial costs of administering the policy. It might cost more than the government anticipated, so the government would have to predict whether the policy would be a good value for the amount of money spent and weigh up if it is worth it to try to correct market failure.

One last leading cause that occurs as a result of government failure is the distortion of price signals, which happens by distorting the free market mechanism. There could be an inefficient allocation of resources because the market mechanism is not able to act freely. For example the government might end up subsidising an industry which is failing or has few prospects so it would overall have little effect.   

In conclusion, Government Failure is where government intervention goes wrong, due to a variety of different reasons, as a result of this mistake, there would be a cost to individuals or maybe even society; Government failure would be a big part in policy making when a government is deciding what level it should intervene at because they always need to be aware of the possible consequences.