Final answer:
Perfect competition is efficient except for the incorrect statement that consumers pay a price below the value of the good. In reality, they pay a price that reflects the marginal cost of production, achieving both productive and allocative efficiency.
Step-by-step explanation:
Perfect competition is efficient because all the following conditions hold except consumers get a real bargain and pay a price below the value of the good. This option does not represent a condition of perfect competition. In perfect competition, the following conditions are true: A. total product is maximized, B. firms maximize profit and produce on their supply curves, and D. firms minimize their average total cost of producing the good.
Productive efficiency and allocative efficiency are both achieved in perfect competition, which means that goods are produced at the lowest possible cost (minimizing average total costs), and the price reflects the marginal cost of production. In other market structures such as monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly, these efficiencies are not always achieved because firms may not minimize average total costs or set prices equal to marginal costs.