--%>

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 : Collective bargaining agreements Tell

    Tell me the answer of this question. Collective bargaining agreements cover: A) wages and hours. B) union status. C) seniority and job opportunities. D) all of the above.

  • Q : Explanation of Substitution Effect The

    The substitution effect helps most in describing why: (1) Demand curves slope down. (2) Goods are either complements or substitutes. (3) Air travel costs less than by walking the cross country. (4) Uncertainty regarding quality justifies govt. control

  • Q : Profit-maximizing level of output When

    When LoCalLoCarbo, the favorite corporation of fad dieters, produces adequate output to minimize its average total costs that will: (1) produce more than the profit-maximizing level of output. (2) concurrently minimize its average variable cost. (3) p

  • Q : Minimum wage law for poor workers A

    A minimum wage law does NOT make pressures which tend to: (1) benefit high wage workers. (2) cause unemployment among unskilled workers. (3) uniformly help poor workers. (4) increase teenage unemployment. (5) foster discrimination.

    Q : Generating good for the society All

    All along the production possibilities frontier, a society can generate more of a good merely if: (1) This provides some of some other good. (2) Resources are completely employed. (3) All resources are efficiently employed. (4) Consumption surpasses i

  • Q : How production increases the value of

    I have a problem in economics on how production increases the value of good. Please help me in the following question. The production of jewelry from valuable metals raises the value of a good by modifying its: (1) Time. (2) Possession. (3) Place. (4) Form.

  • Q : Problem regarding to tax wedges in

    In equilibrium, a tax upon a good tends to because of the: (1) supply to exceed the demand. (2) quantity supplied to exceed the quantity demanded. (3) demand prices of consumers to exceed the supply prices of sellers. (4) competitive

  • Q : Problem on harvesting-Production Can

    Can someone help me in finding out the right answer from the given options. The speculator who purchases wheat at harvest time throughout the late falls or early on winter, contracts for its storage, and then vends the wheat afterward in the winter, spring or in summe

  • Q : Causes of decrease in demand Illustrate

    Illustrate any three causes of decrease in demand? Answer: 1) Reduce in income of consumer. 2) Fall in the price of alternate good.3) Increase in the price of complementary goods.

  • Q : Positively slope of short-run market

    Within purely competitive industries: (w) short-run market supply curves are positively sloped. (x) long-run market supply curves are positively sloped. (y) short-run supply is more elastic than long-run supply. (z) economic profit exceeds accounting