1. Chapter 5 (pp 99-end) Public Goods and Externalities
The economic role for government
Public goods vs. private goods
Externalities (spillover costs and benefits)
Solving market failures

2. Public goods vs. Private Goods
Private goods: rivalry and excludability
When one person buys and consumes a product, it’s not available for another person to buy and consume.
Sellers can keep those who do not pay for a product from obtaining its benefits.
Public goods: nonrivalry and nonexcludability
One person’s consumption does not preclude consumption of the good by others.
No effective way to exclude individuals from the benefit of the good once it comes into existence.

4. Public Goods eliminate the Free Rider Problem
Public goods, once provided, are “free” and the benefit can be obtained without voluntarily paying for it. Examples?
How do governments determine the optimal quantity of public goods?
Answer: Cost-Benefit analysis.
Allocative efficiency: MB=MC.
Collective “willingness to pay” and rising marginal costs due to the law of D.R.

5. Externalities
Externalities occur when the costs of producing or the benefits of consuming a good “spill over” onto those who are neither producing nor consuming the good.

6. Positive or Negative?

7. Positive or Negative? Spillover costs—negative externalities
Overallocation of resources to production
Supply (MC) curve does not reflect all costs
To correct, either 1) outlaw/penalize, or 2) tax
Graph
Spillover benefits—positive externalities
Underallocation of resources to production
Demand (MB) curve does not consider all benefits
To correct, 1) subsidize consumers, 2) subsidize suppliers, or 3) government provides goods

8. Classic Example: Pollution
Pollution is an economic “bad.” It reduces the utility of those affected. Should government eliminate all of this “bad?”
Society must decide how much of a reduction it wants to “buy.” Because of the law of D.R., cleaning up all pollution would be very costly.
The marginal cost to the firm, and hence to society, rises as more and more pollution is reduced. Likewise, the marginal benefit of reducing pollution decreases as more and more pollution is removed. (graph)
Curves shift over time: 1) new technologies and 2) new research.

9. Public Finance: Tax Structures (Chapter 16 pp. 345-346)
Proportional Taxes
A proportional tax is a tax for which the percentage of income paid in taxes remains the same for all income levels.
aka Flat Tax
e.g. Social Security (up to $118,500,) many Eastern European countries, some state taxes, Medicare payroll tax1.45%

10. Tax Structures Progressive Taxes
A progressive tax is a tax for which the percent of income paid in taxes increases as income increases.
e.g. U.S. federal income tax with 7 brackets

12. Tax Structures Regressive Taxes
A regressive tax is a tax for which the percentage of income paid in taxes decreases as income increases. (the more you make, the less you pay)
e.g Sales tax, gas tax, Social Security over $118,500

13. Is there a good tax? A good tax has the following characteristics:
Simplicity
Tax laws should be simple and easily understood.
Efficiency
Government administrators should be able to collect taxes without spending too much time or money.
Certainty
It should be clear to the taxpayer when the tax is due, how much is due, and how it should be paid.
Equity
The tax system should be fair, so that no one bears too much or too little of the tax burden.

14. The ideal tax?

15. Estate tax on the value of all property owned at death
Estate tax on the value of all property owned at death. Begins at over $5,000,000 (max rate of 40%)
Why do the super wealthy set up charitable foundations, trusts, and life insurance policies?

16. Tax Incidence & Efficiency Loss
Who pays the tax? Producers or Consumers?
Elasticity and Tax Incidence
A per-unit tax increases the cost of the product and shifts supply curve to the left. The tax results in a decrease in the quantity.
The more inelastic the demand for the product, the larger the portion of the tax shifted to consumers.
Decline in equilibrium quantity is smaller when demand is more inelastic. (This is why inelastic goods are targets of gov’t taxes, i.e. “sin taxes”)
With a specific demand, the more inelastic the supply, the larger the portion of the tax is paid by producers.
(Ch. 16 pp )

17. Efficiency Loss of a Tax
Efficiency Loss (deadweight loss)—loss is society’s sacrifice of net benefit because the tax reduces consumption below where MB=MC. Key Point: If the Q is not at MB=MC, there is a deadweight loss!
Role of Elasticities—other things equal, the greater the elasticities of supply and demand, the greater the efficiency loss of a tax.
Taxes are sometimes used to reduce negative externalities and increase efficiency.

18. Points for discussion?
Based on AGI in 2006, the top 1% of New York income tax filers represented 28.7% of all income in NYS.
(The bottom 50% represented 10.7% )
Since 2002, 95% of New Yorkers have experienced no income growth.
(The top 5% have doubled their income)
Richest 10% own more than 70% of nation’s wealth—largest share than in 1913—and half of that is owned by the top 1%.

19. Causes of Income Inequality
Ability
Education & Training
Discrimination
Preferences & Risks
Unequal distribution of wealth (capital)
Market power
Luck, connection & misfortune

20. Measuring Income Distribution (Ch. 20 pp. 410-416)
Market economies create wealth, but that wealth is distributed unequally. Problem?
Lowest quintile (20%) of households (earning up to approx. $20k) receives 3.1% of total income.
Highest quintile (earning above approx. $102k) receives 51.1% of total income. (Census Bureau 2015)
Lorenz Curve depicts income inequality.
Gini ratio quantifies (and compares) income inequality.
The higher the ratio, the greater the income inequality. (U.S.=0.477, Sweden=0.230, South Africa=0.650.) [M-B 20th ed.]

22. Income Inequality—cont.
Income Mobility—over time, families have the ability to increase or decrease their income.
Between ‘96 and ‘05, half of those in the lowest quintile moved to a higher income quintile.
Not permanent! (but it’s gotten harder to move)
Government Redistribution
Cash transfers—welfare, unemployment
In-kind transfers—medicare, food stamps, housing
Taxes and transfers result in a lower gini ratio and flatter Lorenz Curve.

24. What’s poverty? Who is impoverished?
Poverty Guidelines | ASPE
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)
Work requirement “workfare”--W to W (welfare to work)
Time limit (5 yr. lifetime limit)
Since 1996, designed to be temporary & transitional
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)
“food stamps”
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—subsidy to low income workers
Section 8 Housing (HUD)
Medicaid