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Chapter 12: Q.10 (page 295)

Suppose a city releases 16million gallons of raw sewage into a nearby lake. Table 12.8shows the total costs of cleaning up the sewage to different levels, together with the total benefits of doing so. (Benefits include environmental, recreational, health, and industrial benefits.)


Total Cost (in thousands of

dollars)


Total Benefits (in thousands of


dollars)


16 million

gallons


Current situation
Current situation

12 million

gallons


50800
8 million gallons
1501300
4 million gallons
5001650
0 gallons
12001900

a. Using the information in Table 12.8, calculate the marginal costs and marginal benefits of reducing sewage emissions for this city. See Production, Costs, and Industry Structure if you need a refresher on how to calculate marginal costs.

b. What is the optimal level of sewage for this city?

c. Why not just pass a law that firms can emit zero sewage? After all, the total benefits of zero-emissions exceed the total costs.

Short Answer

Expert verified

In all the parts there is a use of marginal cost and marginal benefits which is given below.

Step by step solution

01

Marginal cost : 

It is the expense incurred as a result of using an additional unit of input.

02

(a) Explanation : 

Marginal cost and Marginal benefit are calculated.

03

(b) Explanation : 

The optimal level is one in which the marginal cost equals the marginal benefit (MC=MB). As a result, 4million gallons of sewage is the optimal amount.

04

(c) Explanation : 

As seen in the chart above, zero sewage levels are not attainable; also, if more than 4mg is tried, MC>MR occurs, increasing costs; thus, it is preferable to put these resources to more productive use.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Table 12.5 provides the supply and demand conditions for a manufacturing firm. The third column represents a supply curve without accounting for the social cost of pollution. The fourth column represents the supply curve when the firm is required to account for the social cost of pollution. Identify the equilibrium before the social cost of production is included and after the social cost of production is included.

Four firms called Elm, Maple, Oak, and Cherry, produce wooden chairs. However, they also produce a great deal of garbage (a mixture of glue, varnish, sandpaper, and wood scraps). The first row of Table 12.6shows the total amount of garbage (in tons) that each firm currently produces. The other rows of the table show the cost of reducing garbage produced by the first five tons, the second five tons, and so on. First, calculate the cost of requiring each firm to reduce the weight of its garbage by one-fourth. Now, imagine that the government issues marketable permits for the current level of garbage, but the permits will shrink the weight of allowable garbage for each firm by one-fourth.

What will be the result of this alternative approach to reducing pollution?


Elm
Maple
Oak
Cherry
Current production of garbage (in tons)
20406080
Cost of reducing garbage by first five tons
\(5,500
\)6,300
\(7,200
\)3,000
Cost of reducing garbage by second five tons
\(6,000
\)7,200
\(7,500
\)4,000
Cost of reducing garbage by third five tons
\(6,500
\)8,100
\(7,800
\)5,000
Cost of reducing garbage by third five tons
\(7,000
\)9,000
\(8,100
\)6,000
Cost of reducing garbage by fifth five tons
\(0
\)9,900
\(8,400
\)7,000

Suppose you want to put a dollar value on the external costs of carbon emissions from a power plant. What information or data would you obtain to measure the external [not social] cost?

Consider the case of global environmental problems that spill across international borders as a prisoner鈥檚 dilemma of the sort studied in Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly. Say that there are two countries, A and B. Each country can choose whether to protect the environment, at a cost of 10, or not to protect it, at a cost of zero. If one country decides to protect the environment, there is a benefit of 16, but the benefit is divided equally between the two countries. If both countries decide to protect the environment, there is a benefit of 32, which is divided equally between the two countries.

a. In Table 12.10, fill in the costs, benefits, and total payoffs to the countries of the following decisions. Explain why, without some international agreement, they are likely to end up with neither country acting to protect the environment.

Is zero pollution possible under a marketable permits system? Why or why not?
See all solutions

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