SOSC 2330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Economic Efficiency, Market Power, Externality
14 Dec 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Economic principles and the law: the role of government and ethical values. Dutt & wiber - markets and ethical values. Market failures (concentration of power, externalities, public goods) The nature of market relationships (duration, distance, symmetry) The allocation of resources: government tax, government spending, regulatory programs. We get taxed on gas, property, goods and services. The government spends money on infrastructure (highways, subway and bus system, electricity, garbage), healthcare, education, law enforcement, prisons. They will also spend by subsidizing (paying an industry money or paying farmers extra money is prices dip below average). Regulatory programs regulate certain areas of business and restrictions on industries. Generally speaking, mainstream (neoclassical) economists are concerned with the question of allocation. Economic efficiency is the standard by which allocation is accessed. The notion of utility : bentham argued that humans have two masters: pleasure and pain.
