“Free markets” are supposedly “efficient.” But by what stretch of reason, or misuse of words, can the following facts be considered efficient: “as much as 40% of food produced in America is thrown away,” while “18 million households” are “food insecure”? This is food for rethinking markets. Economists use “efficient” usually to mean “Pareto efficiency,” a hypothetical situation whereby no change in allocation of goods can make “at least one individual better off without making any other individual worse off.” But wasting “1,400 calories per person per day” or “$400 per person per year” is neither Pareto, nor any other valid kind of efficient. Is the utility preference of some to buy more food than they eat more important than feeding the food insecure? To too many economists yes. To most untheorized humans, no. - http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/09/06/food-for-rethinking-markets/