政府的角色

Suppose the construction of a flyover causes the value of nearby properties to fall. To attain economic efficiency,

A divergence between private and social costs

Workers in Hong Kong earn higher wages than those in the Philippines because

God may have started out to create all men equal, but our parents intervened. Natural differences in abilities, attributes and tastes go far to explain wage differences. Economics tells us that

Suppose a factory pollutes the environment. If the right to pollute is well-defined and transferable,

A divergence between private and social costs is NOT wasteful if

A restaurant opens near a housing estate. The cooking smell annoys the residents nearby. Economic analysis indicates that

A divergence between private and social costs

The smoke from a metal processing factory in Hong Kong pollutes a large government housing estate nearby, and the toxic nature of the smoke may threaten the lives of residents who are scheduled to move into the estate soon. Economic analysis tells us that

A chemical company drops waste into a farmer's water supply, causing significant damage to the farmer. The farmer cannot legally ask for compensation from the chemical company. In view of this situation