Exam 10: Externalities and Property Rights

Early settlers in the town of Dry Gulch drilled wells to pump as much water as they wanted from the single aquifer beneath the town. (An aquifer is an underground body of water.) As more people settled in Dry Gulch, the aquifer level fell and new wells had to be drilled deeper at higher cost. Compared to a town in which all residents collectively decide on how much water to use, water use will likely be ______ in Dry Gulch.

From the perspective of an externality, most communities have zoning laws to:

Refer to the figure below. Private markets will provide _____ units of this good per day, and the socially optimal number of units per day is ______.

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. If the cafeteria changed its policy so that students had to pay for each item chosen, students would:

Refer to the figure below. If negotiation is impractical, the socially optimal level of production can be achieved by:

In order to achieve a socially optimal level of output, goods that entail positive externalities should be:

The following payoff matrix shows the outcomes for the Unites 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. This situation above illustrates a positional externality because:

The essential reason some species of whales have nearly been driven to extinction is that:

Suppose Erie Textiles can dispose of its waste "for free" by dumping it into a nearby river. While the firm benefits from dumping waste into the river, the waste reduces fish and bird reproduction. This causes damage to local fishermen and bird watchers. At a cost, Erie Textiles can filter out the toxins, in which case local fishermen and bird watchers will not suffer any damage. The relevant gains and losses (in thousands of dollars) for the three parties are listed below. With Filter Without Filter Gains to Erie \ 200 \ 400 Fisherman \ 180 \ 50 Bird Watchers \ 130 \ 25 The cost (in thousands of dollars) of the filter to Erie Textiles is ______, and the net benefit (in thousands of dollars) of the filter to the fishermen and bird watchers is _______.

Suppose Erie Textiles can dispose of its waste "for free" by dumping it into a nearby river. While the firm benefits from dumping waste into the river, the waste reduces fish and bird reproduction. This causes damage to local fishermen and bird watchers. At a cost, Erie Textiles can filter out the toxins, in which case local fishermen and bird watchers will not suffer any damage. The relevant gains and losses (in thousands of dollars) for the three parties are listed below. With Filter Without Filter Gains to Erie \ 200 \ 400 Fisherman \ 180 \ 50 Bird Watchers \ 130 \ 25 If Erie Textiles does not install the filter, there will be a net social ______ of ______ (in thousands of dollars).

Suppose that the EPA has proposed strict controls on the amount of sulfur that diesel fuel contains. These controls were designed to fully offset the cost of pollution generated by diesel fuel vehicles. The effect of the regulation is estimated to increase the equilibrium price of a gallon of diesel fuel by 10 cents. Assuming that the supply of diesel fuel has a positive slope and demand has a negative slope, the quantity of diesel fuel sold after imposition of the regulation will:

Suppose that a vaccine is developed for a highly contagious strain of flu. The likelihood that anyone will get this flu decreases as more people receive the vaccine. One of the demand curves below represents the private demand for the vaccine and the other represents the social demand for the vaccine. At the private market equilibrium, the deadweight loss is ______ per day.

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 table below. Assume that if a villager is indifferent between buying a bond and buying a goat, the villager will buy a goat. $\begin{array} { | c | c | c | } \hline \begin{array} { c } \text { Number of goats } \\\text { on the commons }\end{array} & \begin{array} { c } \text { Price per 2-year } \\\text { old goat (\$) }\end{array} & \begin{array} { c } \text { Income per goat } \\\text { (\$/year) }\end{array} \\\hline 1 & 80 & 30 \\\hline 2 & 75 & 25 \\\hline 3 & 70 & 20 \\\hline 4 & 65 & 15 \\\hline 5 & 55 & 5 \\\hline\end{array}$ When the each villager decides how to invest based on his or her narrow self-interest, total village income will be ______ when the village collectively decides how to invest.

Suppose Erie Textiles can dispose of its waste "for free" by dumping it into a nearby river. While the firm benefits from dumping waste into the river, the waste reduces fish and bird reproduction. This causes damage to local fishermen and bird watchers. At a cost, Erie Textiles can filter out the toxins, in which case local fishermen and bird watchers will not suffer any damage. The relevant gains and losses (in thousands of dollars) for the three parties are listed below. With Filter Without Filter Gains to Erie \ 200 \ 400 Fisherman \ 180 \ 50 Bird Watchers \ 130 \ 25 When Erie Textiles operates with a filter, the total gain (in thousands of dollars) by all three parties is ______.

Suppose that the EPA has proposed strict controls on the amount of sulfur that diesel fuel contains. These controls were designed to fully offset the cost of pollution generated by diesel fuel vehicles. The effect of the regulation is estimated to increase the equilibrium price of a gallon of diesel fuel by 10 cents. Suppose that demand for diesel fuel is perfectly inelastic and supply has a positive slope. The effect of the regulation will _______ than if demand were not perfectly inelastic.

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. Relative to driving an average car, driving a larger-than-average car generates:

The Coase theorem implies that the initial allocation of property rights:

A benefit of an activity received by people not participating in the activity is called a(n):

If the market equilibrium quantity is greater than the socially optimal quantity, one can infer that:

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 all ten people can negotiate with each other at no cost, then the Coase theorem predicts that if the cigar smoker has the right to determine whether smoking is allowed, then there ______ be smoking, and if the other nine people in the room have the right to determine whether smoking is allowed, then there ______ be smoking.