Externalities Suppose the figure to the right illustrates the market for toilet paper, where S1 represents the MPC and D1 represents the MPB from consumption. Companies that produce toilet paper bleach the paper to make it white. Some paper plants discharge the bleach into rivers and lakes, causing substantial environmental damage. Assume that S2 represents the MSC of producing toilet paper (that is, MSC incorporates the externality). a. In the absence of any government regulation, what 500- price and output would 450- prevail in the market? b. If firms did take into account these external costs, what would be the socially optimal price and quantity? c. What could the government do to get the firms to internalize the externality? Price (per ton of toilet paper) 400- 350- 300- 250- 200- 150- 100- 50- D₁ S2 S₁ 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Quantity (1000 tons of toilet paper produced per week) 800 900 1000

Externalities Suppose the figure to the right illustrates the market for toilet paper, where S1 represents the MPC and D1 represents the MPB from consumption. Companies that produce toilet paper bleach the paper to make it white. Some paper plants discharge the bleach into rivers and lakes, causing substantial environmental damage. Assume that S2 represents the MSC of producing toilet paper (that is, MSC incorporates the externality). a. In the absence of any government regulation, what 500- price and output would 450- prevail in the market? b. If firms did take into account these external costs, what would be the socially optimal price and quantity? c. What could the government do to get the firms to internalize the externality? Price (per ton of toilet paper) 400- 350- 300- 250- 200- 150- 100- 50- D₁ S2 S₁ 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Quantity (1000 tons of toilet paper produced per week) 800 900 1000

Principles of Economics 2e

2nd Edition

ISBN:9781947172364

Author:Steven A. Greenlaw; David Shapiro

Publisher:Steven A. Greenlaw; David Shapiro

Chapter12: Environmental Protection And Negative Externalities

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 15RQ: Give an example of a positive externality and an example of a negative externality.

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Similar questions

Give an example of a positive externality and an example of a negative externality.
Show the market for cigarettes in equilibrium, assuming that there are no laws banning smoking in public. Label the equilibrium private market price and quantity as Pm and Qm. Add whatever is needed to the model to show the impact of the negative externality from second-hand smoking. (Hint: In this case it is the consumers, not the sellers, who are creating the negative externality.) Label the social optimal output and price as Fe and Qe. On the graph, shade in the deadweight loss at the market output.
Draw a standard supply and demand diagram for televisions, and indicate the equilibrium price and output. a. Assuming that the production of televisions generates external costs, illustrate the effect of the producers being forced to pay a tax equal to the external costs generated, and indicate the equilibrium output. b. If instead of generating external costs, television production generates external benefits, illustrate the effect of the producers being given a subsidy equal to the external benefits generated, and indicate the equilibrium output.
Greater consumption of alcohol leads to more motor vehicle accidents and, thus, imposes costs on people who do not drink and drive. a. Illustrate the market for alcohol, labeling the demand curve, the social-value curve, the supply curve, the social-cost curve, the market equilibrium level of output, and the efficient level of output. b. On your graph, shade the area corresponding to the deadweight loss of the market equilibrium. (Hint: The deadweight loss occurs because some units of alcohol are consumed for which the social cost exceeds the social value.) Explain.
A country called Sherwood is very heavily covered with a forest of 50,000 trees. There are proposals to clear some of Sherwoods forest and grow com, but obtaining this additional economic output will have an environmental cost from reducing the number of trees. Table 12.11 shows possible combinations of economic output and environmental protection. Sketch a graph of a production possibility frontier with environmental quality on the horizontal axis, measured by the number of trees, and the quantity of economic output, measured in corn, on the vertical axis. Which choices display productive efficiency? How can you tell? Which choices show allocative efficiency? How can you tell? In the choice between T and R, decide which one is better. Why? In the choice between T and S, can you say which one is better, and why? If you had to guess, which choice would you think is more likely to represent a command-and-control environmental policy and which choice is more likely to represent a market-oriented environmental policy, choice Q or S? Why?
In the Land of Purity, there is only one form of pollution, called gunk. Table 12.14 shows possible combinations of economic output and reduction of gunk, depending on what kinds of environmental regulations you choose. Sketch a graph of a production possibility frontier with environmental quality on the horizontal axis, measured by the percentage reduction of gunk, and with the quantity of economic output on the vertical axis. Which choices display productive efficiency? How can you tell? Which choices show allocative efficiency? How can you tell? In the choice between K and L, can you say which one is better and why? In the choice between K. and N, can you say which one is better, and why? If you had to guess, which choice would you think is move likely to represent a command-and-control environmental policy and which choice is more likely to represent a market-oriented environmental policy, choice L or M? Why?
Refer to Table 12.2. The externality created by the refrigerator production was 100. However, once we accounted for both the private and additional external costs, the market price increased by only 50. If the external costs were 100 why did the price only increase by 50 when we accounted for all costs?
Classify the following pollution-control policies as command-and-control or market incentive based. A state emissions tax on the quantity of carbon emitted by each firm. The federal government requires domestic auto companies to improve car emissions by 2020. The EPA sets national standards for water quality. A city sells permits to films that allow them to emit a specified quantity of pollution. The federal government pays fishermen to preserve salmon.
The many identical residents of Whoville love drinking Zlurp. Each resident has the following willingness to pay for the tasty refreshment: a. The cost of producing Zlurp is 150, and the competitive suppliers sell it at this price. (The supply curve is horizontal.) How many bottles will each Whovillian consume? What is each persons consumer surplus? b. Producing Zlurp creates pollution. Each bottle has an external cost of 1. Taking this additional cost into account, what is total surplus per person in the allocation you described in part (a)? c. Cindy Lou Who, one of the residents of Whoville, decides on her own to reduce her consumption of Zlurp by one bottle. What happens to Cindys welfare (her consumer surplus minus the cost of pollution she experiences)? How does Cindys decision affect total surplus in Whoville? d. MayorCrinch imposes a 1 tax on Zlurp. What is consumption per person now? Calculate consumer surplus, the external cost, government revenue, and total surplus per person. e. Based on your calculations, would you support the mayors policy? Why or why not?
Would environmentalists favor command-and-control policies as a way to reduce pollution? Why or why not?
The rows in Table 12.7 show three market-oriented tools for reducing pollution. The columns of the table show three complaints about command-and-control regulation. Fill in the table by stating briefly how each market-oriented tool addresses each of the three concerns.