All Posts Tagged With: "marginal cost"
Hayek, Coase, and Buchanan on the Market Process
Donald Boudreaux is chairman of the economics department at George Mason University. Compared to most other economists, my George Mason University colleagues and I put more emphasis on books than articles. Tyler Cowen, one of my most accomplished colleagues, often describes GMU Economics as a “book department.” This affection for books doesn’t mean that we ignore [...]
1Jun2007 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 2 comments | ContinuedThe Economics of Spam
What’s the matter with the Internet? I used to love it, at least the part of it that brought e-mail. One of the highlights of my day used to be Outlook Express’s friendly tone announcing that another e-mail had arrived in my inbox. Then I would stop what I was doing to see which friend [...]
1Nov2003 | Christopher Westley | 2 comments | ContinuedGetting the Most Out of Pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to reduce pollution with command and control suffers from the same problem as attempting to direct the economy with socialism—central authorities dictate outcomes without knowing what the outcomes should be or how they are best achieved.
1Oct2001 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedThe High Cost of Command and Control
We may not all agree on how much pollution to reduce, but we certainly should agree to reduce it as cheaply as possible. Since cleaning up at least cost is exactly the same as maximizing the cleanup for any given cost, cost minimization should appeal even to those who dislike thinking about the cost of protecting the environment.
1Aug2001 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedAre People Pleased with the Efficient Amount of Pollution?
It is clear that zero pollution is not a reasonable goal once we recognize that polluting creates benefits as well as costs. Long before we reduced pollution to zero, there would be so much environmental quality and so few manufactured goods that the marginal value gained from increasing pollution would be greater than the marginal cost.
1Jun2001 | Dwight R. Lee | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Efficient Amount of Pollution
When environmentalists argue that the costs of protecting the environment should be ignored, they quickly find themselves in a box. The only way to protect environmental quality in some ways (say, reducing water pollution) is by harming it in other ways (say, increasing air pollution).
1May2001 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomic Efficiency
Economic efficiency is the standard that economists use to evaluate a wide range of things. Economists who favor markets argue that they generate outcomes more efficient than do socialism or government regulation. As we shall see in the next few months, economists don’t like pollution because it is inefficient.
1Mar2001 | Dwight R. Lee | 1 comment | ContinuedHow Government Prevents Us from Buying Safety
There is a limit to how much people will voluntarily pay to reduce the risk of accidental injury or death. In other words, the marginal value people place on their lives is finite. We accept some risks to take advantage of opportunities to do things that, at the margin, provide more value than the expected sacrifice in health and life expectancy.
1Dec2000 | Dwight R. Lee | 1 comment | ContinuedInvisible Hand Obsolete?
Allen Murray’s Wall Street Journal article “Pushing Adam Smith Past the Millennium” (June 21, 1999) purports to discuss the relevancy of Adam Smith’s invisible hand for the 21st century. In reality, Murray is not talking about Smith or his invisible-hand metaphor at all. The assumption beneath his conclusion that “Smith’s ideas will need some rethinking [...]
1Nov1999 | Roy Cordato | 0 comments | ContinuedThe First Law of Economics
Mr. Reinach is a financial consultant, formerly a member of a New York Stock Exchange firm. The economic facts of life are many. But the grandfather of them all is the law of demand and supply. If this one law alone were thoroughly understood, it is highly improbable that government interference in the market place [...]
1May1956 | Anthony M. Reinach | 0 comments | Continued-
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