ezy econ Flashcards
internal costs/benefits
costs/benefits gained by the economic agent for producing or consuming a product
private costs =
internal costs
private costs =
internal costs
whether consuming or producing a product is good for an agent depends on
whether the private benefits are greater than the private costs
external costs/benefits
the costs/benefits gained by other economic agenst in society for producing or consuming a product
social costs =
internal costs + external costs
social benefits =
internal benefits + external benefits
whether consuming or producing a product is good for society depends on whether
the social benefits are greater than the social costs
individual decisions are based on
private costs and benefits
social welfare is maximised
by weighing up social costs and benefits
externalities
external costs and benefits that affect third parties but are not considered by the decision maker
merit good
a good that is underprovided by a market
demerit good
a good that is overprovided by a market
2 reasons why goods are over/under provided for
- externalities
- imperfect information
classifying goods as a merit or demerit good often is a
valued judgment
tragedy of the commons
in some circumstances individuals action rationally in their own interests may not do the best thing in the interest of the whole group
- over exploitation
e.g over fishing in a pond not enough fish to breed and reproduce … no fish for anyone
which types of market failure can indirect taxation help
- product is overprovided for in a market
increases the price and reduces demand and market output
what are 2 types of fiscal government intervention
- indirect tax
- subsidy
how to measure the value of a tax on a graph
measured by the verticle distance between the 2 supply curves
what affects the effectivness of a tax
the PED
how to work out tax revenue on a graph
tax revenue = tax value x new quantity
internalising the externaility
increasing prices (imposing indirect tax) to reflect negative externalities
which types of market failures can subsidies help
product is under provided for by the market
- decrease the price, increasing demand and market output
aka merit good
how do you measure the value of a subsidies
the length between the 2 supply curves
subsidy cost =
subsidy value x output
3 issues with subsidies
- cost - provided by tax, so need to tax more
- benefit - who benefits, if rich people could increase inequality more
- imperfect information - hard to estimate value and worth of positive externalities
why are price controls set
market price:
- are consumers being exploited (max price)
- are producers receiving fair price (min price)
what happens to market supply and market demand when a max price is set
- market supply decreases
- market demand increases
- leaves excess demand and potential market failure, do the excess demand consumers get goods abroad or a black market…
non-binding maximum price
ineffective intervention by the government in the market
(setting a max price above the market equilibrium price)
- incentiveses producers to keep selling at the same price or even higher cause they can get away with it
why might the government set a non-binding maximum price
to create stability in case of future shocks
-e.g agriculture, don’t know if its a good or bad harvest, if bad prices tend to rise quite high and this sets them to a binding maximum price
what happens to market supply and demand when a minimum price is set
- market supply increases
- market demand decreases
- excess supply
non-binding minimum price
ineffective intervention by the government in the market