Botkin & Keller Chapter #7- Economy
1. What is meant by the term the tragedy of the commons? Which of the following are the result of this tragedy?
a.The fate of the California Condor
b. The fate of the gray whale
c. The high price of walnut wood used in furniture.
The term tragedy of the commons means freedom of action in a commons inevitably brings ruin to all. People tend to respond buy benefiting themselves rather than by benefiting the commons. People will benefit in the short-run, but in the long-run everyone will lose.
2.What is meant by risk-benefit analysis?
That the comparison of the risk of a situation to its related benefits.
3.Cherry and walnut are valuable woods used to make fine furniture. Basing your decision on the information in the following table, which would you invest in?
a. A cherry plantation
b. A walnut plantation
c. A mixed stand of both species
d. An unmanaged woodland here you see some cherry and walnut growing
4.Bird flu is spread in part by migrating wild birds. How would you put a value on
a) the continued existence of one species of these birds.
$5000 by which species is most endangered
b) domestic chickens important for food but also a major source of the disease.
$1000 by the vote of human population and whether they want to keep the chickens or not
c) control of the disease for human health?
$100,000 by the percentage of the earths population of humans that are affected by it
5.Which of the following are intangible resources? Which are tangible?
a. The view of Mount Wilson in California
b. A road to the top of Mount Wilson
c. Porpoises in the ocean
d. Tuna in the ocean
e. Clean air
6. What kind of future value is implied by the statement "Extinction is forever"? Discuss how we might approach providing economic analysis for extinction.
After animals or resources go extinct, they are extinct forever and aren't able to come back. We might approach an economic analysis for extinction by doing all we can to save endangered species so they don't end up extinct forever.
7. Which of the following can be thought of as commons in the sense meant by Garret Hardin? Explain your choice
a. Tuna fisheries in the open ocean: Instead of having tuna reproduce to provide for others, people can make money by selling tuna instead.
b. Catfish in artificial freshwater ponds
c. Grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park
d. A view of Central Park in New York City
e. Air over Central Park in New York City
Key Terms:
a.The fate of the California Condor
b. The fate of the gray whale
c. The high price of walnut wood used in furniture.
The term tragedy of the commons means freedom of action in a commons inevitably brings ruin to all. People tend to respond buy benefiting themselves rather than by benefiting the commons. People will benefit in the short-run, but in the long-run everyone will lose.
2.What is meant by risk-benefit analysis?
That the comparison of the risk of a situation to its related benefits.
3.Cherry and walnut are valuable woods used to make fine furniture. Basing your decision on the information in the following table, which would you invest in?
a. A cherry plantation
b. A walnut plantation
c. A mixed stand of both species
d. An unmanaged woodland here you see some cherry and walnut growing
4.Bird flu is spread in part by migrating wild birds. How would you put a value on
a) the continued existence of one species of these birds.
$5000 by which species is most endangered
b) domestic chickens important for food but also a major source of the disease.
$1000 by the vote of human population and whether they want to keep the chickens or not
c) control of the disease for human health?
$100,000 by the percentage of the earths population of humans that are affected by it
5.Which of the following are intangible resources? Which are tangible?
a. The view of Mount Wilson in California
b. A road to the top of Mount Wilson
c. Porpoises in the ocean
d. Tuna in the ocean
e. Clean air
6. What kind of future value is implied by the statement "Extinction is forever"? Discuss how we might approach providing economic analysis for extinction.
After animals or resources go extinct, they are extinct forever and aren't able to come back. We might approach an economic analysis for extinction by doing all we can to save endangered species so they don't end up extinct forever.
7. Which of the following can be thought of as commons in the sense meant by Garret Hardin? Explain your choice
a. Tuna fisheries in the open ocean: Instead of having tuna reproduce to provide for others, people can make money by selling tuna instead.
b. Catfish in artificial freshwater ponds
c. Grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park
d. A view of Central Park in New York City
e. Air over Central Park in New York City
Key Terms:
- Commons-Land or resources belonging to or affecting a community.
- Direct costs- Costs carried by the producer in obtaining, processing and distributing a product
- Environmental economics-Environmental economics is a subfield of economics concerned with environmental issues.
- Externality- indirect cost, something that is not recognized by producers as part of the cost or benefit
- Indirect cost-Indirect costs are costs that are not directly
- accountable to a cost object.
- Intangible factor- Factors that affect a decision, but that cannot be expressed in monetary terms.
- Natural Capital: Natural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital to goods and
- services relating to the natural environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future.
- Policy Instruments: What people do, what people can do, and how people do it
- Public-Service Functions: A complicating factor in maintaining clean air, soil and water, and sustaining renewable resources is that ecosystems do these without our help.
- Risk-Benefit Analysis: Risk–benefit analysis is the comparison of the risk of a situation to its
- related benefits. Exposure to personal risk is recognized as a normal aspect of everyday life. We accept a certain level of risk in our lives as necessary to achieve certain benefits
- Tangible Factor: A factor you can touch,buy and sell.