ECF1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Market Failure, Allocative Efficiency, Productive Efficiency

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rosebadger52

18 Jul 2018

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Week 6 market failure and government intervention. Output produced at a minimum average cost (productive efficiency). Economic problem of how to produce is addressed. Output produced where marginal benefit to society equals the marginal cost to society (allocative efficiency) Economic problem of what or how much to produce (i. e. where resource should be allocated) is addressed. Market power (to be considered another time) - information failure. A good or service is excludable whereby a person can be prevented from using it. A good or service is is characterised by rivalry whereby one person"s use diminishes other people"s use. Pure public good - national defence: non-excludable, non-rival. Common resources - congested non-toll road: rival, non-excludable. Where a person"s activity effects the wellbeing of a bystander and yet the bystander neither pays nor receives any compensation for that effect. Aesthetic benefits of a well-maintained garden to neighbors -academic research. Someone wearing thick perfume in a wine-tasting room.

Related Questions

Question 1

An externality

		enhances market efficiency.
		is a private cost or benefit that results from the production or consumption of a good or service that is external to a market.
		is a benefit or cost that affects someone who is not directly involved in the production or consumption of a good or service.
		refers to production or consumption that occurs outdoors.

5 points

Question 2

Externalities can be produced by:

		the high price of goods and services
		individuals; firms
		market prices; market incomes
		oceans; streams

5 points

Question 3

When an external cost exists that is NOT taken into account in the production of a product,

		the level of output is too high, and the supply curve should shift to the left to account for the externality.
		the price of the product is too high, and production should be expanded to lower the price.
		the level of output is optimal, and there should be no change in the supply curve.
		the level of output is too low, and the supply curve should shift to the right to account for the externality.

5 points

Question 4

Which of the following is correct?

		MSC = MPC - MD
		MPC = MSC + MD
		MSC = MPC + MD
		MD = MSC + MPC

5 points

Question 5

If external costs (costs of cleaning up) are included and added to a firm's private costs, then

		the demand curve will shift to the left.
		the supply curve will shift to the right.
		the demand curve will shift to the right
		the supply curve will shift to the left.

5 points

Question 6

The Coase Theorem states that

		government intervention is always needed if externalities are present.
		assigning property rights is the only thing the government should do in a market economy.
		if transaction costs are low, private bargaining will result in an efficient solution to the problem of externalities.
		a free-market equilibrium is the best solution to address externalities.

5 points

Question 7

Buffalo in the United States almost became extinct while cattle, an animal that provides similar products, never have been close to extinction. The difference is due to

		the use of private property rights on cattle and common property rights on buffalo.
		the greater marginal value of a head of cattle relative to buffalo, leading to over-hunting of buffalo.
		cattle existing in Europe also while buffalo were specific to North America.
		the greater marginal value of a buffalo relative to a steer, leading to the overharvesting of buffalo.

5 points

Question 8

In theory, the Emissions Fee would

		cause firms to generate less pollution than their allowed limits.
		raise the production costs of all firms.
		cause firms to generate more pollution than their allowed limits.
		lower the production costs of all firms.

5 points

Question 9

A cap-and-trade policy

		has a set number of permits.
		allows polluters to trade permits.
		caps the total level of pollution allowed.
		all of the above.

Question 10

A Pigouvian tax corrects for

		market congestion.
		market losses.
		inefficient sales.
		low market prices.

harlequingoldfish8

1. The marginal product of labor is:

A. equal to the demand for labor.

B. the payment made to workers for their contribution to the output they produce.

C. the change in a firm's revenue as a result of hiring one more worker.

D. the additional output a firm produces as a result of hiring one more worker.

2. What does the phrase "internalizing an external cost" mean?

A. limiting the extent to which domestic firms can outsource production

B. prohibiting economic activities that create externalities

C. finding a way to address cross-border pollution

D. forcing producers to factor into their production costs the cost of the externalities created in the production of their output

3. The highest-valued alternative that must be given up to engage in an activity is the definition of

A. implicit cost

B. opportunity cost.

C. utility.

D. economic sacrifice.

4. What is market failure?

A. It refers to the inability of the market to allocate resources efficiently up to the point where marginal social benefit equals marginal private cost.

B. It refers to a situation where an entire sector of the economy (for example, the airline industry) collapses because of some unforeseen event.

C. It refers to a breakdown in a market economy because of widespread corruption in government.

D. It refers to the inability of the market to allocate resources efficiently up to the point where marginal social benefit equals marginal social cost.

5. Suppose a competitive firm is paying a wage of $12 an hour and sells its product at $3 per unit. Assume that labor is the only input. If the last worker hired increases output by three units per hour, then to maximize profits the firm should

A. lay off some of its workers.

B. does not change the number of workers it currently hires.

C. hire additional workers.

D. There is not enough information to answer the question.

6. When the price of summer tank tops falls and you buy more of them because they are relatively less expensive, this is called

A. the deadweight loss effect.

B. the income effect.

C. the substitution effect.

D. the elasticity effect.

7. An externality is

A. a benefit realized by the purchaser of a good or service.

B. a benefit or cost experienced by someone who is not a producer or consumer of a good or service.

C. a cost paid for by the producer of a good or service.

D. anything that is external or not relevant to the production of a good or service.

8. Firms pay famous individuals to endorse their products because

A. apparently demand is affected not just by the number of people who use a product but also by the type of person that uses the product. '

B. famous people only consume high-quality products.

C. famous people obviously know what are the best goods and services.

D. the firms are irrational and are wasting advertising expenditures.

9. If a consumer receives 20 units of utility from consuming two candy bars, and 25 units of utility from consuming three candy bars, the marginal utility of the second candy bar is

A. 25 utility units.

B. 20 utility units.

C. 5 utility units.

D. unknown as more information is needed to determine the answer.

10. When there is a negative externality, the private cost of production ________ the social cost of production.

A. is less than

B. is greater than

C. eliminates

D. is equal to

pinkmink286

Question 3

We saw in class that the same good can fall in different categories (public/private/club/common resource) depending on circumstances. An example of such a good would be watching a movie at the theater. If a lot of people want to watch it, the movie is a _________. If very few people want to watch it (to the point where a room could not even be filled), the movie is likely to be a _______.

A. a common resource; a public good

B. a public good; a common resource

C. a private good; a club good

D. a club good; a private good

3 points

Question 4

Which of the following statements about the free-rider problem is not true?

A. Individuals have an incentive to free-ride when the good is not excludable.

B. The kinds of goods for which the free rider problem arises are common resources and public good.

C. Markets for goods for which there is a free-rider problem are inefficient because not enough of the good is produced.

D. Goods for which the free-rider problem exists tend to be over provided relative to what would be optimal.

4 points

Question 5

To achieve the efficient provision of public goods, the

A. market should be allowed to operate without government intervention.

B. government must limit the provision of those goods.

C. government must tax producers of those goods.

D. government must either provide those goods or subsidize their production.

3 points

Question 6

Which of the following statements about public goods is not true?

A. Because people cannot be excluded from their consumption and thus have no incentive to pay for them, public goods are underprovided by the market.

B. Efficiency requires that the government provide or fund (subsidize) the provision of all public goods.

C. Efficiency requires that the government provide or fund only the public goods that create more benefits than costs to society.

D. In reality, it is hard to provide public goods efficiently.

3 points

Question 7

Public goods must be provided by the government as the market on its own will fail to provide them. However, even with government provision it is very hard to achieve efficiency. Why?

A. In reality, it is very hard (if not impossible) to accurately estimate the benefits of providing a public good.

B. A. In reality, there can be overruns in the cost of providing the public good.

C. Government decisions about which public goods to provide can be influenced by lobbying by interest groups.

D. All of the above are true.

4 points

Question 8

Which of the following is not a common resource?

A. congested roads

B. clean water

C. wild life, which hunters want to hunt and others want to view.

D. a fireworks display.

3 points

Question 9

Many species of animals must be protected by law to keep them from extinction. Why are cows not one of these endangered species even though there is such a high demand for beef?

A. Cows reproduce at a high rate and have adapted well to their environment.

B. Public policies protect cows from predators and diseases.

C. Cows are privately owned (private goods), whereas many endangered species are owned by no one (common resources).

D.There is a natural ecological balance between the birth rate of cows and human consumption.

3 points

Question 10

Which of the following statements about common resources is not true?

A. Due to the free-rider problem, common resources tend to be overused.

B. Because there is rivalry in the consumption of common resources, whenever one person uses a common resource it is imposing a negative externality on others who might also want to use it.

C. There are no private solutions to the management of common resources.

D. One of the solutions that ensures that common resources are properly managed is their privatization.

3 points

Question 11

In our analysis of the firmâs behavior and goals, when we talk about cost, we include _________, and when we talk about profit, we mean ________.

A. Explicit costs only; economic profit

B. Implicit costs only; economic profit

C. Implicit costs only; accounting profit

D. Explicit + implicit costs; economic profit

E. Explicit + implicit costs; accounting profit

3 points

Question 12

One of the differences between explicit and implicit costs is that

A. explicit costs must be greater than implicit costs.

B. explicit costs do not require a direct monetary outlay, whereas implicit costs do.

C. implicit costs do not require a direct monetary outlay, whereas explicit costs do.

D. implicit costs must be greater than explicit costs.

3 points

Question 13

Which of the following is FALSE:

A. If accounting profit is zero, then economic profit is negative

B. Economic profit takes cost the opportunity cost of time and capital into account

C. Economic Profit = Accounting Profit + Implicit Cost

D. Economic Profit = Accounting Profit â Implicit Cost

3 points

Question 14

Which of the following is an example of an implicit cost?

(i) the owner of a firm forgoing an opportunity to earn a large salary working in Wall Street

(ii) interest paid on the firm's debt

(iii) rent paid by the firm to lease office space

A. (ii) and (iii) only

B. (i) and (iii) only

C. (i) only

D. (iii) only

3 points

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ECF1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Market Failure, Allocative Efficiency, Productive Efficiency

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