In other words, there is an economic equilibrium in which businesses take advantage of every opportunity to increase profits. In such an equilibrium, the candy will be at the checkout counter. That is also a fundamental feature of market equilibrium, in which supply and demand balance each other out. And thus a lot of bad things happen, such as the candy at the checkout counter. Yet we make those decisions, and the free market provides them, just as bountifully as it satisfies our more benign impulses.