ECONOMICS 1370 SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS QUESTIONS-PART 1

Transcription

1 ECONOMICS 1370 SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS QUESTIONS-PART In Lawrence Reed s article Privatization: Best Hope of a Vanishing Wilderness : a. Why does Reed argue that privatization is the best hope for preserving environmental assets? Use two or three examples from the article to make your point. What role do property rights play in such preservation? 02. In Terry Anderson and Laura Huggins article Chapter 2: What Do Property Rights Do? : a. What is the tragedy of the commons? What are some examples the authors cite? b. How do each of the following avoid the tragedy of the commons? (1) Community Commons (2) Private Property (3) Government Regulations c. Why is government regulation not very effective? Explain. d. What is the connection between property rights and economic growth? 03. In Terry Anderson and Laura Huggins article Chapter 3: Where Do Property Rights Come From? : a. Explain under what circumstances property rights will be produced. b. How do the benefits and costs of enforcing property rights affect their use? Explain. c. Explain why private enforcement of property rights will occur and give some examples.

2 04. In Michael De Alessi s article Wildlife Enrichment and Oil Exploration--a 2-for-1 Deal at the Welder Wildlife Refuge : a. Briefly explain what the Welder Wildlife Refuge is and what the aims of the Foundation are. b. Why has the number of wells in the Refuge declined recently? c. What lessons does the Welder Refuge have for ANWR? 05. In Dwight Lee s article To Drill or Not to Drill: Let the Environmentalists Decide : a. How do the Audubon Society s statements about oil drilling in ANWR differ from their actions in wildlife areas that they own? Explain why these two things are different. b. Explain how the Nature Conservancy of Texas deals with the tradeoff between preserving wildlife and drilling for oil. c. Lee says: I am confident that environmentalists would immediately see the advantages of drilling in ANWR if they were responsible for both the costs and the benefits of that drilling. Conversely, why might environmentalists overstate the environmental amenities put at risk by drilling for oil in ANWR when ANWR is a publicly owned asset? Explain. d. What is the evidence for claiming that the risks of drilling for oil in ANWR are significantly less than environmentalists assume? (Note: Include a discussion of the effect on caribou herds.) 06. In Richard Stroup and Jane Shaw's article "Environmental Harms from Federal Government Policy": a. How does government contribute to losses of wetlands? Explain. (HINT: Subsidies play a big role here.) b. How do farm programs affect wildlife habitat on farms? c. How does the Bureau of Reclamation affect the environment?

3 d. What effect do subsidies have on those who build on coastal barriers? e. Why does government pursue so many environmentally unsound policies? Explain in public choice terms. Apply these concepts to the Park Service and the problem of wild horses and burros. 07. In Robert Crandall's article "Clean Air and Regional Protectionism,": a. What is the non-degradation policy? What is the new source policy? (Hint: It is one of the policies incorporated into the Clean Air Act of 1977.) b. Why are these two policies potentially disastrous for economic growth in the southern and western regions of the country? c. Are these two policies working to produce cleaner air? Why does Congress spend so much on programs that attempt to control air pollution but does nothing to ascertain whether the programs are producing clean air? Explain using public choice concepts. d. Congress, under pressure from environmentalists, required all new source emitters of sulfur oxides to reduce emissions by the same fixed percentage. Why does this result in more air pollution? (Hint: There are two reasons.) 08. In Edward Krug s article Fish Story: The Great Acid Rain Flimflam, : a. What other way can a lake become acidic besides acid rain? b. Is acid rain responsible for the increased acidity in the lakes in the Adirondacks? c. What does the NAPAP study conclude about the effect of acid rain on Eastern lakes? Was the 1990 legislation necessary to reduce acid rain?

4 09. In George Berger s article Chapter 2: Supply and Demand-A Review, : a. Explain the difference between a movement along a curve and a shift in a curve. b. If A and B are substitutes (in consumption) explain what happens when the cost of producing A increases. c. Explain why a subsidy causes a welfare loss (misallocation of resources). d. If recycled paper and new paper are close substitutes, what will mandatory paper recycling laws do to the planting of new trees (which would be used to make new paper)? (Hint: What effect does mandatory recycling have on the recycled paper market? What if the price of recycled paper becomes negative?) 10. In Roger Meiners and Bruce Yandle's article "The Common Law: How It Protects the Environment": a. How did the common law protect property owners from unwanted pollution? Explain briefly. (Hint: What is a nuisance [or a trepass] and how can property owners be protected from them?) b. Illustrate how the common law works by summarizing a few of the cases (Surface Water, Land, Air and Underground Water) which the authors discuss. c. What are the limitations of the common law? Explain. (Hint: Do NOT just repeat what the author writes. Think about these.) d. How did statute law (designed law) come to be substituted for the common law? What is the lure of central planning and how does it play a part in this substitution of statute for common law? Explain. 11. In the Institute for Energy Research article Carbon Taxes: Reducing Economic Growth-Achieving No Environmental Improvement : a. Why will GDP/output be significantly lower if carbon taxes are imposed?(hint: Use a supply demand analysis.)

5 b. Will carbon taxes in the US make any significant impact on the global climate? c. What effect may carbon taxes have on domestic industries? Explain why using supply demand analysis. d. Why did Ken Green change his mind about carbon taxes? 12. In Kenneth Green, Steven Hayward and Kevin Hassett s article Climate Change: Caps versus Taxes : a. Explain what some of the drawbacks of using emission trading (cap and trade) are. 13. In Peter Hill's article "Environmental Problems Under Socialism": a. What are some of the environmental problems that have been observed since the collapse of the Soviet Union? b. Why do centrally planned economies generate all sorts of negative externalities? c. Explain what incentive problems occur in centrally planned economies and why they occur. How do these problems lead to environmental problems? d. Explain what problems arose because a centrally planned economy did not generate good information. (Be sure you can explain why such a result occurred.) e. Why do the externalities produced by socialism persist? f. Why does state ownership of property inhibit the development of private property rights to resources?