Exam 11: Public Goods and Common Resources

Neither public goods nor common resources are

Elephants are endangered, but cows are not because

Economists think that the best way to determine the value of a human life is to

Most goods in our economy are allocated in markets, where buyers pay for what they receive and sellers are paid for what they provide.

Table 11-6 Consider the city of Widgetapolis with only four residents, John, James, Mary, and Lydia. The four residents are trying to determine how many hours to spend in cleaning up the public lake. The table below shows each resident's willingness to pay for each hour of cleaning. ​ ​ -Refer to Table 11-6. Suppose the cost to clean the lake is $20 per hour. How many hours should be spent cleaning the lake to maximize total surplus for the residents in Widgetapolis?

Because the benefits of basic research are obvious and easy to measure, it is likely that the public sector pays for the right amount and the right kinds of basic research.

Table 11-3 This table describes the police protection demands for three equal sized groups of people in Safetyville. The second, third, and fourth columns show the number of person-hours of police protection per day that a group will demand for a given price (the first column). -Refer to Table 11-3. If the marginal cost of police protection is constant at $36 per person-hour, what is the efficient level of police protection to provide?

Why is cable TV reception regarded as a club good?

Figure 11-1 -Refer to Figure 11-1. The box labeled A represents

The greatest difficulty with cost-benefit analysis of a public project is determining

Some goods can be either common resources or public goods depending on

Is national defense excludable? Is it rival in consumption? How do we classify national defense in terms of the four types of goods?

On hot summer days, electricity-generating capacity is sometimes stretched to the limit. At these times, electric companies may ask people to voluntarily cut back on their use of electricity. On these days, electricity is

Markets may fail to allocate resources efficiently when property rights are not well established.

Suppose that the Town of Mapledale is considering hiring an additional firefighter. The expected benefit is estimated to be worth $5 for each of Mapledale's 15,000 residents. What should the city do?

Why do elephants face the threat of extinction while cows do not?

For all types of goods that are not private goods, the market fails to allocate resources efficiently because _________________.

Which of the following is an example of general knowledge, as opposed to specific knowledge that can be patented?

Table 11-2 Consider a small town with only three families, the Greene family, the Brown family, and the Black family. The town does not currently have any streetlights so it is very dark at night. The three families are considering putting in streetlights on Main Street and are trying to determine how many lights to install. The table below shows each family's willingness to pay for each streetlight. -Refer to Table 11-2. Suppose the cost to install each streetlight is $900. How many streetlights should the town install to maximize total surplus from the streetlights?

What particular characteristic do public goods and club goods have in common?