Economics Module 4 - Discussion post and responses... earned 100% PDF

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Discussion post and responses... earned 100%...

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Response to Brokelle To avoid the tragedy of the commons, a great start would be to finding alternatives to resources that can eventually deplete. Some examples of alternatives include tidal energy, wind energy, geothermic energy, nuclear and solar power. Government regulation like quotes, and other laws to help conserve resources are very helpful and necessary because if the idea behind common property. It motivates people to abuse resources. According to econclips.com, “when people have free access to a shared resource, by acting rationally in their own self-interest they cause the rest of society and themselves to suffer losses in the long run.” Effective management of these resources are needed in order to preserve them. Excluding outsiders from using a local resource is one example of managing with low costs.

Your post was a great summary of the videos! Thank you for including definitions, this will be very helpful to refer back to. When the demand for a product is elastic this means that demand is sensitive to price changes. If the selling price of a product increase, there will be less units sold and vice versa. If the price of private education increases, people will look for similar alternatives like public school for a cheaper price. When demand for a product is inelastic this means that demand is not sensitive to price changes. If the price of food goes up, people will still buy the same amount. An example of a negative externality is water and air pollution from a factory and depletion of nonrenewable resources. An example of a positive externality is a company planting trees, donating to a charity or doing research that will benefit society. http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Market_failures/Externalities.html endangered species are protected on private land and might not be protected without it. Endangered Species Act punishes has both pros and cons. Some believe that it punishes those who’s land provide the last remaining habitat for dwindling species. Also, certain things, such as land surveying, law enforcement and security, are all on-going costs that must be taken on by those who pay taxes. I believe that they should receive some kind of incentive as well as a subsidiary for their land. Federal law should encourage property owners to work with conservation programs rather than creating policy that can hurt land owners.

Tragedy of the commons – people will abuse natural resources more when there is nobody there to protect them. Tragedy of the commons says that resources will be abused When resources are privately owned, the owner has more of an interest to protect the resources. People will act with a “not my problem” attitude when they know the consequences are shared equally between all users. Either private land who can sell access or have government own it and sell permits to use the resource. Hunting, fishing, and camping are all examples of activities that require a permitting process to protect the environment and resources. Positive externality- When a product has benefits to society, it is factored in to the marginal benefit curve. Society and the trees owner are both benefiting in the example given in the video. To increase the number of trees planted to reach optimal quantity produced, an incentive is given to the person planting the tree to allocate the surplus while the community benefits as well. Negative externality- Negative cost associated with plastic bags not being factored into the curve or also known as the cost to society and the environment. Costs to clean bags from the environment and recycling should be taken into consideration when determining marginal cost. Difference between the benefit – total marginal cost. Another example is that cigarette smoke is harmful to the person smoking it and other inhaling the 2nd hand smoke. This would be a negative externality along with the fact that cigarette butts are littered all other the ground. Price elasticity is the idea that some goods and services will be demanded less and the price increases. For example, something that will be purchases in the same quantity regardless of price would be considered inelastic. Food is something necessary to people so if the price increase, we will still be purchasing the same amount of food. For goods like luxury items that have elastic prices, if prices increase, the amount demanded will decrease. When price increases, people will turn to cheaper alternatives therefor less is demanded....