Exam 11: Externalities, Property Rights, and the Environment

Which of the following would be most vulnerable to the tragedy of the commons?

Suppose there are ten people playing cards in a room. One of them wants to smoke a cigar, nine of them dislike the smell of cigar smoke. The smoker values the privilege of smoking at $5, and each of the other nine people of the room would be willing to pay fifty cents for clean air in the room. The rules governing use of the room state that smoking is not allowed unless everyone agrees to allow smoking. Declaring the card room a non-smoking area with no opportunity to negotiate would:

Consider two restaurants located next door to each other: Quick Burger and The Sunshine Café. If Quick Burger opens a drive-through window, the increased traffic and noise will bother customers seated outside at The Sunshine Café. The table below shows the monthly payoffs to Quick Burger and The Sunshine Café when Quick Burger does and does not operate a drive-through window. Quick Burger Operates a Drive-Thrmugh Windav Quick Burger Daes Nat Operate Brive-Thraugh Window Quick Burper \ 24,000 \ 15,000 The Surshine Caf \ 11,000 \ 23,000 If Quick Burger has the legal right to operate a drive-through, and Quick Burger and The Sunshine Café CANNOT negotiate with each other, then will Quick Burger operate a drive-through window?

If the production of a good generates a positive externality, then:

The following payoff matrix shows the outcomes for the United States and Russia from relying on conventional weapons versus atomic weapons in a military conflict. The percentages refer to the fraction of the population that would die. For the US, the dominant strategy is to have ________, and for Russia, the dominant strategy is to have ________.

Two companies, Dirty Inc. and Filthy Inc., each of which has access to 5 different production processes, each of which has a different cost and produces a different amount of pollution. The daily costs of the processes and the number of tons of smoke emitted are shown in the table below.   Suppose pollution is initially unregulated. If the City Council requires each firm to reduce emissions by 50 percent, then the total cost to society of this policy will be ________ per day.

If the production of oranges generates an external benefit, then we would expect the market equilibrium quantity of oranges to be:

The insight that people can always arrive at efficient solutions to the problems caused by externalities if they can negotiate the purchase and sale of the right to perform activities that cause externalities is called the ________.

Suppose that a government agency is trying to decide between two pollution reduction policy options. Under the permit option, 100 pollution permits would be sold, each allowing emission of one unit of pollution. Firms would be forced to shut down if they produced any units of pollution for which they did not hold a permit. Under the pollution tax option, firms would be taxed $250 for each unit of pollution emitted. The regulated firms all currently pollute and face varying costs of pollution reduction, though all face increasing marginal costs of pollution reduction. Suppose the regulators chose the permit policy instead of the tax policy. What might explain that decision?

Shel and Fran are neighbors. They work at the same firm and hold the same title. Shel finds that when Fran's consumption rises, Shel feels worse off. Fran feels the same way about Shel's consumption. Fran has bought a new Jaguar (a luxury car), and shortly thereafter, Shel bought a new Mercedes (also a luxury car). Shel and Fran seem to be:

Two firms, Industrio and Capitalista, have access to five production processes, each of which has a different cost and gives off a different amount of pollution. The daily costs of the processes and the corresponding number of tons of smoke emitted are shown in the table below. Both firms currently use process A, and each emits 4 tons of smoke per day. The government is considering two plans to reduce pollution: requiring both firms to reduce pollution by 25 percent or auctioning pollution permits. Each permit would entitle the owner to emit one ton of smoke per day. Without a permit, no smoke can be emitted.   If neither firm had any permits, Industrio would be willing to pay up to ________ for the right to emit 1 ton of smoke, and Capitalista would be willing to pay up to ________ for the right to emit 1 ton of smoke.

Suppose there are ten people playing cards in a room. One of them wants to smoke a cigar, nine of them dislike the smell of cigar smoke. The smoker values the privilege of smoking at $5, and each of the other nine people of the room would be willing to pay fifty cents for clean air in the room. The rules governing use of the room state that smoking is not allowed unless everyone agrees to allow smoking. If the cigar smoker paid each other occupant fifty cents for the right to smoke, the cigar smoker would be ________ and the other occupants would be ________.

Suppose you are an economic researcher, and you have access to detailed information about all of the firms in a given geographic area. You would conclude that the pollution reduction policy in that area is efficient if you observe that:

Lunch in Jamie's dorm is an all-you-can-eat buffet, served from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. By noon, the buffet is picked over, and by 12:30, there are very few popular items left. The garbage bins, though, are full of food. Over time, you would expect that students would:

A village has five residents, each of whom has an accumulated savings of $50. Each villager can use the money to buy a government bond that pays 10% interest per year or to buy a year-old goat, send it onto the commons to graze, and sell it after one year. The price of the goat that the villager will get at the end of the year depends on the amount of weight it gains while grazing on the commons, which in turn depends on the number of goats sent onto the commons, as shown in the table below. Assume that if a villager is indifferent between buying a bond and buying a goat, the villager will buy a goat.   Number af gants an the carmuns Price per 2-year ald poat (5) Incame per gant ( \/ year) 1 80 30 2 75 25 3 70 20 4 65 15 5 55 5   The villagers will buy a year-old goat if the goat can be sold for a price of at least ________ when it is 2 years old.

Two firms, Acme and FirmCo, have access to five production processes, each of which has a different cost and gives off a different amount of pollution. The daily costs of the processes and the corresponding number of tons of smoke emitted are shown in the table below.   Suppose the firms are both currently using process A. If the government imposes a tax of $110 per ton of smoke emitted, then Acme will use process ________, and FirmCo will use process ________.

Which of the following is most likely to be used efficiently?

Two companies, Dirty Inc. and Filthy Inc., each of which has access to 5 different production processes, each of which has a different cost and produces a different amount of pollution. The daily costs of the processes and the number of tons of smoke emitted are shown in the table below.   Suppose pollution is initially unregulated. If the City Council imposes a tax of $91 per day on each ton of smoke emitted, then total emissions will fall to ________ tons of smoke per day.

Curly and Moe are considering living alone or being roommates and splitting the rent for the next twelve months. If they live alone, they each rent a one bedroom, one bath apartment for $500 per month, while if they are roommates, they can split a two bedroom, one bath apartment for $800 per month. The one difficulty they have is that Moe snores very loudly. Curly estimates the cost of poor sleep due to Moe's snoring at $150 per month. Moe could obtain a snore-eliminating device for $50 per month. Curly and Moe have both taken an economics course and so are willing to apply the Coase theorem and negotiate. Who will compensate the other?

Suppose that in most car collisions between cars of unequal size, the smaller car sustains the most damage and its occupants suffer the most injury. In answering the following question, assume that, on average, smaller cars generate less air pollution than larger cars and that every person in the economy drives at least one car. In deciding what kind of car to buy, individuals: