When economists discuss the environment, they emphasize the _______________.

benefits only
costs only
differences between themselves and environmentalists
costs and benefits

The greatest source of air pollution is _________________.

industrial processes
solid waste disposal
road transportation
electric utilities

_______ are social arrangements governing the ownership, use, and disposal of factors of production, goods, and services.

Externalities
Legal ownership laws
Emission charges
Property rights

According to the Coase theorem, if property rights exist and transactions costs are low, ________________.

the property must belong to the polluter
private transactions are inefficient
the property must belong to the party that is inconvenienced
private transactions are efficient

Marginal social cost is equal to ___________________.

the external cost
the marginal cost imposed on people other than the producer
the value of the tax that will make the market efficient
marginal private cost plus the marginal cost imposed on others

Marginal benefit to others _________________.

is called marginal social benefit
is always less than the marginal private cost
is graphed as an upward sloping curve
plus marginal private benefit equals marginal social benefit

Under the "prisoners' dilemma" scenario, industrial countries _______________.

and developing countries will both pollute
will pollute and developing countries will control pollution
will control pollution and developing countries will pollute
and developing countries will both control pollution

Governments can use subsidies _________________.

as a means of increasing government spending
to achieve an efficient outcome
when they want to increase taxes
only when marginal social benefit equals marginal social cost

Property rights for discoveries that are owned by creators of knowledge are called _________ property rights.

creative
knowledge
academic
intellectual

A patent or copyright grants its owner exclusive use _______________.

until the market becomes efficient
for a given number of years
until the owner's death
for as long as the owner desires