曼昆经济学原理英文版教案新部编本加习题答案11章PUBLIC GOODS AND COMMON RESOURCES

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a. Case Study: Why the Cow is Not Extinct — Elephants in Africa are common

resources because no one owns them. This means that no one has an incentive to make sure that a sufficient number are preserved. This is different from a cow, which is usually owned by a rancher. The rancher has an incentive to ensure that the cattle population on his ranch is maintained so that he can continue to earn a profit. Thus, governments could actually be more successful in making sure that the elephant is not extinct by allowing people to kill the elephants on their own property (thus making the elephants a private good). The landowners would then have some incentive to preserve the stock of elephants on their land.

Activity 2—Article on the Role of Government Type: Take-home assignment Topics: The role of government, market failure Class limitations: Works in any size class Purpose This assignment gives students an opportunity to identify real-world market failures and consider how the government can address these issues. Categorizing a real problem will help students clearly distinguish the various types of market failure. Instructions This assignment is difficult for many students, particularly if they are unclear on the concept of market failure. Not every example of government action will be appropriate for this assignment. Students may find it easier to make a list of possible areas of market failures before looking for an article. Ask the students to do the following: 1. Find an article in a recent newspaper or magazine that illustrates market failure. 2. Identify the type of market failure. Is it a problem of negative externalities, positive

IV. Conclusion: The Importance of Property Rights

A. With both public goods and common resources, the market outcome will be

inefficient because of the lack of well-defined property rights.

B. This absence of property rights can lead to a market failure, which implies that in

these situations, governments can improve the allocation of resources and increase economic well-being.

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SOLUTIONS TO TEXT PROBLEMS:

Quick Quizzes

1. Public goods are goods that are neither excludable nor rival in consumption.

Examples include national defense, knowledge, and uncongested nontoll roads. Common resources are goods that are rival in consumption but not excludable. Examples include fish in the ocean, the environment, and congested nontoll roads.

2. The free-rider problem occurs when people receive the benefits of a good but

avoid paying for it. The free-rider problem induces the government to provide public goods because the private market will not produce an efficient quantity on its own. The government uses tax revenue to provide the good, everyone pays for it, and everyone enjoys its benefits. The government should decide whether to provide a public good by comparing the good’s costs to its benefits. If the benefits exceed the costs, society is better off.

3. Governments try to limit the use of common resources because one person’s

use of the resource diminishes others’ use of it. This means that use of these goods results in a negative externality and people tend to use common resources excessively.

Questions for Review

1. An excludable good is one that people can be prevented from using. A good

that is rival in consumption is one for which one person's use diminishes other people's use of the same good. Pizza is excludable, because a pizza producer can prevent someone who does not pay for the pizza from eating it. Pizza is also rival in consumption, because when one person eats it, no one else can eat it.

2. A public good is a good that is neither excludable nor rival in consumption. An

example is national defense, which protects the entire nation. No one can be prevented from enjoying the benefits of it, so it is not excludable. An additional person benefiting from it does not diminish the value of it to others, so it is not rival in consumption. The private market will not supply the good, because no one would pay for it because they cannot be excluded from enjoying it even if they don't pay for it.

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3. Cost–benefit analysis is a study that compares the costs and benefits to society

of providing a public good. It is important because the government needs to know which public goods people value most highly and which have benefits that exceed the costs of supplying them. It is hard to do because quantifying the benefits is difficult to do from a questionnaire and because respondents have little incentive to tell the truth.

4. A common resource is a good that is rival in consumption but not excludable.

An example is fish in the ocean. If someone catches a fish, that leaves fewer fish for everyone else, so it is rival in consumption. But the ocean is so vast, you cannot charge people for the right to fish, or prevent them from fishing, so it is not excludable. Thus, without government intervention, people will use the good too much, because they do not account for the costs they impose on others when they use the good.

Quick Check Multiple Choice 1. a 2. b 3. b 4. d 5. b 6. c

Problems and Applications

1. a. (1) Police protection is a club good because it is excludable (the police may

ignore some neighborhoods) and not rival in consumption. You could make an argument that police protection is rival in consumption, if the police are too busy to respond to all crimes, so that one person's use of the police reduces the amount available for others. In that case, police protection is a private good.

(2) Snow plowing is most likely a common resource. Once a street is

plowed, it is not excludable. But it is rival in consumption, especially right after a big snowfall, because plowing one street means not plowing another street.

(3) Education is a private good (with a positive externality). It is excludable, because someone who does not pay can be prevented from taking classes. It is rival in consumption, because the presence of an additional student in a class reduces the benefits to others.

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(4) Rural roads are public goods. They are not excludable and they are not rival in consumption because they are uncongested.

(5) City streets are common resources when congested. They are not excludable, because anyone can drive on them. But they are rival in

consumption, because congestion means that every additional driver slows down the progress of other drivers. When they are not congested, city streets are public goods, because they are no longer rival in consumption.

b. The government may provide goods that are not public goods, such as

education, because of the externalities associated with them.

2. a. The externalities associated with public goods are positive. Because the

benefits from the public good received by one person do not reduce the benefits received by anyone else, the social value of public goods is substantially greater than the private value. Examples include national defense, knowledge, uncongested nontoll roads, and uncongested parks. Because public goods are not excludable, the free-market quantity is zero, so it is less than the efficient quantity.

b. The externalities associated with common resources are generally negative.

Because common resources are rival in consumption but not excludable, the use of the common resources by one person reduces the amount available for others. Because common resources are not priced, people tend to overuse them ? their private cost of using the resources is less than the social cost. Examples include fish in the ocean, the environment, congested nontoll roads, the Town Commons, and congested parks.

3. a. Charlie is a free rider.

b. The government could solve the problem by sponsoring the show and

paying for it with tax revenue collected from everyone.

c. The private market could also solve the problem by making people watch

commercials that are incorporated into the program. The existence of cable TV makes the good excludable, so it would no longer be a public good.

4. a. If only a few people use the free wireless internet, it would not be

excludable and not rival in consumption. Thus, it would be a public good.

b. Once a large number of people begin using the free internet service, it is a

common resource. It is still not excludable, but it is now rival in consumption.

育人犹如春风化雨，授业不惜蜡炬成灰