THE FESTIVE FREE MARKET

3. The legal right that allows the owner of a local home decor store to lock up their unsold fairy lights at night and claim all the earnings from festive sales.
7. What happens on the day after Diwali when sweet shops have a massive excess supply of unsold milk cakes because consumer demand has suddenly plummeted.
8. The intense rivalry between multiple sweet vendors on the same street that forces them to improve the quality of their kaju katli and keep their prices low to attract shoppers.
9. Municipal Street lamps lit up for a public Diwali festival that are non-excludable and non-rival, meaning everyone benefits regardless of who paid.
10. A reward, like high festival profits or a year-end bonus, that motivates factory workers and artisans to put in overtime ahead of the holiday season.

1. A person who stands on the sidewalk to enjoy a massive, expensive neighborhood Diwali laser light show without paying a single rupee toward its cost.
2. The economic situation that occurs when a completely free market overproduces polluting firecrackers and underproduces community safety, leading to an inefficient allocation of festive resources.
4. The perfect market state reached when the quantity of clay lamps artisans bring to the market exactly matches the quantity that families want to buy.
5. A product like loud firecrackers that is over-consumed in a free market because consumers ignore the long-term health risks and social costs.
6. The 'invisible hand' that automatically adjusts the costs of clay diyas and marigold garlands based on shortages and surpluses during festive shopping, requiring no government intervention.