AREC365 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Prentice Hall, Endangered Species, Social Cost

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Agricultural and Resource Economics
• Course: AREC365
• Professor: Terence Veeman

Document Summary

Definition: a good or service, once supplied to one individual, by its very nature, is (or should be) freely available to all (up to the point of congestion). *a(cid:448)oid si(cid:373)plisti(cid:272) defi(cid:374)itio(cid:374)s of pu(cid:271)li(cid:272) goods (cid:894)e(cid:454). (cid:862)the(cid:455) are pro(cid:448)ided (cid:271)(cid:455) go(cid:448)er(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t(cid:863)(cid:895) Two major kinds of public goods: natural features of the environment (resource base, scenic view, endangered species, biodiversity* (good discussion of this in textbook, clean air, clean water, produced through manmade processes (technological process, defence, mosquito control. Infrastructure such as roads (up until congestion: provision of clean air and water* *pollution is an externality, but pollution control is a public good. Some features of a provincial/national park have characteristics of a public good, but some aspects of the experience can be charged for and made excludable. Major resource misallocation is taking place, leading to inefficiency in resource use. We"re (cid:449)illi(cid:374)g to do (cid:272)olle(cid:272)ti(cid:448)el(cid:455) that (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:449)e"re (cid:374)ot (cid:449)illi(cid:374)g to do i(cid:374) isolatio(cid:374)