EC120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Pareto Efficiency, Economic Surplus, Marginal Cost

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10 Apr 2019

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Internalizing externality: altering incentives so people take account of external effects of actions. Community surplus: when a market is in equilibrium, with no external influences/effects, it"s in a state of pareto optimality: it"s impossible to make someone better off without making someone worse off. Existence of externalities: externality occurs when the production/consumption of a good/service affects a third party, mpc (marginal private cost): private supply curve that is based on the firm"s costs of production. Msc = mpc +/- any external cost/benefit of production: mpb (marginal private benefit): private demand curve that is based on the utility/benefits to consumers. Msb = mpb +/- any external cost/benefit of consumption: thus, if no externalities exist in a market, msc = msb and there"s social efficiency and maximum community surplus. If externalities exist, msc does not equal msb, so there is market failure. Negative externalities of production: when the production of a good/service creates external costs.

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.

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home / study / business / economics / questions and answers / Question 1 Which Of The Following Is The Best Example ... Question: Question 1 Which of the following is the best exam... Bookmark Question 1 Which of the following is the best example of a positive externality? A car company lays off 10,000 employees in order to cut costs. An individual drives a large SUV, which increases the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. An individual smokes in a restaurant, which bothers other patrons. A child is vaccinated against a disease, which reduces the probability that other children will catch the disease. 4 points Question 2 As a result of a negative externality, the market equilibrium quantity is too ______ compared to the socially optimal quantity. As a result of a positive externality, the market equilibrium quantity is too ______ compared to the socially optimal quantity. high; high. low; low. high; low. low; high. 4 points Question 3 Based on the diagram below, the deadweight loss area associated with the market equilibrium equals: Week06_graph1.jpg $10 $50 $80 $1,000 4 points Question 4 A firm's accounting profit is given by total revenue: less implicit costs. less explicit costs. less economic profit. less implicit and explicit costs. 4 points Question 5 Suppose an activity has a private cost equal to $30 and a private benefit equal to $30. The associated social cost equals $35 and the social benefit equals $30. Which of the following statements is true about this activity? There is a negative externality associated with this activity but not a positive externality. There is a positive externality associated with this activity but not a negative externality. There is both a positive and a negative externality associated with this activity. There is neither a positive nor a negative externality associated with this activity. 4 points Question 6 The Coase Theorem implies that: the efficient level of an externality is generally zero. private individuals living in market economies should not be concerned with externalities. government intervention is not always needed to arrive at the efficient level of an externality. government laws are unnecessary. 4 points Question 7 An industry in which a small number of large firms sell products that are either close or perfect substitutes is: perfectly competitive. monopolistically competitive. an oligopoly. a monopoly. 4 points Question 8 When a negative externality is present in a market: a tax can increase the level of economic surplus. the social benefits are greater than the private benefits. there is generally too little of the good produced by private markets. the government should ensure that there are zero external costs associated in all markets. 4 points Question 9 In the presence of a positive externality, the government can arrive at the socially optimal output level by: paying producers a subsidy equal to the amount of social benefits associated with the activity. charging producers a tax equal to the amount of social costs associated with the activity. paying producers a subsidy equal to the amount of external benefits associated with the activity. charging producers a tax equal to the amount of external costs associated with the activity. 4 points Question 10 The tragedy of the commons is that: too few individuals have access to high quality healthcare. common people overconsume public goods. the quality of life for lower income people is generally lower than that of higher income people. a resource with no price tends to be exploited until its marginal benefit falls to zero. 4 points Question 11 One potential remedy to the tragedy of the commons is to: never allow a single individual to consume more than one percent of the common resource. criminalize the usage of common resources. allow individuals to use a common resource as long as they receive some benefit from doing so. place a common resource under private ownership. 4 points Question 12 As a result of a positional externality: contestants have a tendency to invest in a series of mutually offsetting investments in performance enhancement. there is generally an underinvestment in performance enhancement. the market price of performance enhancement materials is too high. the quality of performance in competitive situations is lower than the socially optimal level. 4 points Question 13 Which of the following statements is true regarding health insurance? Economics shows that all health related procedures should be free to individuals because the health of an individual is priceless. Total economic surplus would be larger if individuals faced an incentive to only use services when the benefit exceeds their costs. Health maintenance organizations provide an incentive for doctors to prescribe expensive nonessential services. First dollar insurance coverage has likely had very little to do with rising healthcare expenditures since World War II. 4 points Question 14 A strategy that yields a higher payoff no matter what the other players in the game choose is known as a: prisoner's strategy. dominated strategy. dominant strategy. Nash strategy.

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

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EC120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Pareto Efficiency, Economic Surplus, Marginal Cost

EC120 Full Course Notes

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