Buyers and sellers receive benefits from taking part in the market. The prefectly competitive markets generate maximum total welfare of buyers and sellers. Total welfare of buyers and sellers equals total benefits minus total costs. Total welfare of buyers and sellers equals the sum of consumer surplus and producer surplus. The welfare of buyers is measured by consumer surplus which is a honetary measure of the net benefit enjoyed by them from being able to purchase a product at the going market price. The welfare of the sellers is measured by producer surplus, which is the difference between the amount that a seller actually receives from selling a good in the marketplace and the minimum amount the seller must receive in order to be willing to supply the good in the marketplace. This paragraph is about welfare economics, the branch of economics that studies how the allocation of resources affects economic well-being. the concept of elasticity. how in competitive markets prices are determined by the interaction of demand and supply how rational people make decisions based on a comparison of costs and benefits macroeconomics