--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

External costs and external benefits

Question:

(a)         Explain the impact of external costs and external benefits on resource allocation;

(b)         Why are public goods not produced in sufficient quantities by private markets?

(c)         Which of the following are examples of public goods (or services)? Delete the incorrect option

Explain your choice.

  (i)       The Judicial system       ..................................................................................................................... Yes/No

  (ii)      Pencils       ........................................................................................................................................... Yes/No

  (iii)     The quarantine service    ................................................................................................................. Yes/No

  (iv)     The Great Wall of China....................................................................................................................... Yes/No

  (v)      Contact lenses       ............................................................................................................................. Yes/No

Summary:

The question is about externalities affecting resource allocation, public goods and their implication on the profit of a firm have been answered.

Answer:

(a)     External costs and benefits, known as externalities; can affect resource allocation in both positive and negative manner. A negative externality can increase the cost of operations, and this is mainly due to the harmful effect of one industry's or economic agent's operation on the other. An example may be the effect of a factory dumping its waste in a river, which adversely affects the operations of fishing industry. On the other hand, a positive externality helps reduce the cost of operation in one sector due to favourable operation in other sector. An example in case is a highly educated person living in a locality and teaching people about good effects of sanitation, which leads to a decline in healthcare costs of the locality.

(b)  The private markets take into account only the direct benefits accruing to the producer in the calculation of profit optimization. However, public goods by their very nature are non-rival and non-excludable. This generates positive externalities and hence creates social benefits which are not taken into account by the private producers. This leads to an under-provision of public goods in the private market.

(c)

  • Yes
  • No
  • Yes
  • Yes
  • No

   Related Questions in Microeconomics

  • Q : Marginal social benefit and costs under

    Under pure competition, there is marginal social benefit will equivalent marginal social cost unless: (w) “hit and run” entrepreneurs prosper. (x) economic profits are zero. (y) there are externalities. (z) entrepreneurs a

    		•
  • Q : Psychological Pricing Define the term

    Define the term Psychological Pricing and what are their aspects?

    		•
  • Q : Market price below equilibrium price

    When the market price is beneath the equilibrium price then: (i) The market will clear. (ii) An excess exists. (iii) Consumers will not invest. (iv) The shortage exists. (v) Each and every consumer will be satisfied. Find out the r

    		•
  • Q : Essay why is marginal revenue

    why is marginal revenue product=marginal resource cost a formula for profit maximization?

    		•
  • Q : Competitive Resource Market Supply

    Can someone please help me in finding out the accurate answer from the following question. As resources should be hired away from other utilizations, the resource supply curves facing a big and expanding competitive industry are usually: (1) U shaped. (2) Horizontal.

    		•
  • Q : Fundamental Normative Economics The

    The fundamental economic question for that answers are most likely to be different greatly across the populace and be most heavily based upon value judgments is: (1) what goods will society produce? (2) how will resources be used to yield the goods so

    		•
  • Q : Price taker and a quantity adjuster

    When the world price for this year’s wheat crop is $10 per bushel, and Del, a profit maximizer one who owns the biggest wheat farm within North Dakota: (i) is a quantity taker and a price adjuster. (ii) cannot generate an economic profit into th

    		•
  • Q : Attribute Demand Curve for Bonds A

    A demand curve for bonds moving to the right is probably to be attributable to: (w) a business cycle recession. (x) lower expected (future) interest rates. (y) an increase into the expected rate of inflation. (z) an increase in the liquidity of altern

    		•
  • Q : Income effect of a wage Can someone

    Can someone help me in finding out the right answer from the given options. When the income effect of a wage raise is more powerful than the substitution effect, then the:  (1) Labor supply curve will be ‘backward bending’. (2) Unemployment rate will

    		•
  • Q : Legal barriers to entry in a market

    Governmentally-imposed obstacles to the entrance of new firms within a market are termed as: (1) regulatory barriers or legal barriers to entry. (2) strategic barriers to entry. (3) natural barriers to entry. (4) tax barriers to entry. (5) revenue blockades.