Suppose a new social service is introduced by a government at a fixed cost of $3,000 (note: there is no marginal cost to provide this service). This service has not been provided before and there is no available substitute for this service. Economists have estimated the marginal benefit of the new service is given by: MB = 100 – Q where Q is the quantity (in hours) of the service that is used. Please note the MB gives both the marginal private benefit (MPB) and marginal social benefit (MSB) (i.e., MB = MPB = MSB). Suppose that instead of using an administrative mechanism, the government imposes a price to ration the use of the service to recover part of its costs. What price should be introduced to ration the use of the service to 50 hours? What is the net social benefit when the service charge is used? How does charging a price compare to providing it for free and/or rationing? Be Hint(s): similarly, think about measuring the area of consumer surplus and compare it to the government's cost. You may want to complete Q5 as you complete this question.
Suppose a new social service is introduced by a government at a fixed cost of $3,000 (note: there is no marginal cost to provide this service). This service has not been provided before and there is no available substitute for this service. Economists have estimated the marginal benefit of the new service is given by:
MB = 100 – Q
where Q is the quantity (in hours) of the service that is used. Please note the MB gives both the marginal private benefit (MPB) and marginal social benefit (MSB) (i.e., MB = MPB = MSB).
Suppose that instead of using an administrative mechanism, the government imposes a price to ration the use of the service to recover part of its costs. What price should be introduced to ration the use of the service to 50 hours? What is the net social benefit when the service charge is used? How does charging a price compare to providing it for free and/or rationing? Be Hint(s): similarly, think about measuring the area of
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