Explain the two main causes of market failure and give an example of each

Give three examples of important trade-offs that you face in your life.

What is the opportunity cost of seeing a movie?

Water is necessary for life. Is the marginal benefit of a glass of water large or small?

Why should policymakers think about incentives?

Why isnt trade among countries like a game with some winners and some losers?

What does the invisible hand of the marketplace do?

Explain the two main causes of market failure and give an example of each.

Why is productivity important?

What is inflation and what causes it?

How are inflation and unemployment related in the short run?

Describe some of the trade-offs faced by each of the following: a. a family deciding whether to buy a new car b. a member of Congress deciding how much to spend on national parks c. a company president deciding whether to open a new factory d. a professor deciding how much to prepare for class e. a recent college graduate deciding whether to go to graduate school

You are trying to decide whether to take a vacation. Most of the costs of the vacation (airfare, hotel, and forgone wages) are measured in dollars, but the benefits of the vacation are psychological. How can you compare the benefits to the costs?

You were planning to spend Saturday working at your part-time job, but a friend asks you to go skiing. What is the true cost of going skiing? Now suppose you had been planning to spend the day studying at the library. What is the cost of going skiing in this case? Explain.

You win $100 in a basketball pool. You have a choice between spending the money now or putting it away for a year in a bank account that pays 5 percent interest. What is the opportunity cost of spending the $100 now?

The company that you manage has invested $5 million in developing a new product, but the development is not quite finished. At a recent meeting, your salespeople report that the introduction of competing products has reduced the expected sales of your new product to $3 million. If it would cost $1 million to finish development and make the product, should you go ahead and do so? What is the most that you should pay to complete development?

The Social Security system provides income for people over age 65. If a recipient of Social Security decides to work and earn some income, the amount he or she receives in Social Security benefits is typically reduced. a. How does the provision of Social Security affect peoples incentive to save while working? b. How does the reduction in benefits associated with higher earnings affect peoples incentive to work past age 65?

A 1996 bill reforming the federal governments antipoverty programs limited many welfare recipients to only two years of benefits. a. How does this change affect the incentives for working? b. How might this change represent a trade-off between equality and efficiency?

Your roommate is a better cook than you are, but you can clean more quickly than your roommate can. If your roommate did all the cooking and you did all the cleaning, would your chores take you more or less time than if you divided each task evenly? Give a similar example of how specialization and trade can make two countries both better off.

Explain whether each of the following government activities is motivated by a concern about equality or a concern about efficiency. In the case of efficiency, discuss the type of market failure involved. a. regulating cable TV prices b. providing some poor people with vouchers that can be used to buy food c. prohibiting smoking in public places d. breaking up Standard Oil (which once owned 90 percent of all oil refineries) into several smaller companies e. imposing higher personal income tax rates on people with higher incomes f. instituting laws against driving while intoxicated

Discuss each of the following statements from the standpoints of equality and efficiency. a. Everyone in society should be guaranteed the best healthcare possible. b. When workers are laid off, they should be able to collect unemployment benefits until they find a new job.

In what ways is your standard of living different from that of your parents or grandparents when they were your age? Why have these changes occurred?

Suppose Americans decide to save more of their incomes. If banks lend this extra saving to businesses, which use the funds to build new factories, how might this lead to faster growth in productivity? Who do you suppose benefits from the higher productivity? Is society getting a free lunch?

In 2010, President Barack Obama and Congress enacted a healthcare reform bill in the United States. Two goals of the bill were to provide more Americans with health insurance (via subsidies for lower-income households financed by taxes on higher-income households) and to reduce the cost of healthcare (via various reforms in how healthcare is provided). a. How do these goals relate to equality and efficiency? b. How might healthcare reform increase productivity in the United States? c. How might healthcare reform decrease productivity in the United States?

During the Revolutionary War, the American colonies could not raise enough tax revenue to fully fund the war effort; to make up this difference, the colonies decided to print more money. Printing money to cover expenditures is sometimes referred to as an inflation tax. Who do you think is being taxed when more money is printed? Why?

Imagine that you are a policymaker trying to decide whether to reduce the rate of inflation. To make an intelligent decision, what would you need to know about inflation, unemployment, and the trade-off between them?

A policymaker is deciding how to finance the construction of a new airport. He can either pay for it by increasing citizens taxes or by printing more money. What are some of the short-run and long-run consequences of each option?