# When AI Agents Flood a Marketplace, Welfare Collapses 88%. The Fix Costs Less Than a Better Model. - Date: 2026-04-25 - Category: Agentics A new simulation shows what happens when AI agents represent every buyer on a marketplace: inboxes flood 5x, response rates crater to 2%, and net welfare drops 88%. The fix is not a better model — it is adding a price per message, which recovers 77% of the lost welfare. ---