2.8 市场失灵
Section outline
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Market Failures
::市场失灵The market sometimes fails either the producer or the consumer. Economists define market failure as an element missing from the market place.
::经济学家认为市场失灵是市场遗漏的一个因素。There are four possible failures that can develop:
::有四种可能的失败可以发展:-
inadequate competition among producers,
::生产者之间的竞争不够, -
lack of information available to buyers and sellers,
::买方和卖方缺乏信息, -
the inability of resources (labor, capital, entrepreneurs) to move to other markets, or
::资源(实验室、资本、企业家)无法转移到其他市场,或 -
externalities (unintended side-effects) that are either positive or negative.
::积极或消极的外部效应(非预期副作用)。
The free market economy works best when adequate competition is available and four conditions are met. First, there must be adequate competition in all markets. Second, both buyers (consumers) and sellers (producers) must be reasonably well informed about the conditions and available opportunities within the marketplace. Third, resources (labor and capital) must be free to move from one industry to another when the need arises. Finally, the prices in the market must reasonably reflect the cost of production. If one or more of these conditions are not met, then economists consider that to be a market failure. Market failures generally occur when there is inadequate competition, inadequate information, resource immobility, and externalities.
::自由市场经济在具备充分竞争和满足四个条件的情况下最有效。第一,所有市场都必须有适当的竞争。第二,买方(消费者)和卖方(生产者)都必须合理地充分了解市场的条件和可利用的机会。第三,资源(实验室和资本)必须在需要时能够自由从一个行业转移到另一个行业。最后,市场价格必须合理地反映生产成本。如果一个或多个条件得不到满足,那么经济学家就会认为市场失败。市场失败通常发生在竞争不足、信息不足、资源不稳定和外在因素不足的情况下。Universal Generalizations
::普遍化-
Lack of competition, inadequate information, and immobile resources can result in market failure.
::缺乏竞争、信息不足和不流动资源可能导致市场失灵。 -
The market economy does not produce public goods, which are collectively consumed by everyone.
::市场经济并不生产人人集体消费的公益物。 -
Externalities are regarded as market failures.
::外在因素被视为市场失灵。
Guiding Questions
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Why is it important for consumers to have adequate information?
::为什么消费者必须有充分的信息? -
Why are resources sometimes immobile?
::为什么资源有时无法流动? -
Why is it necessary for there to be adequate competition in a free market economy?
::为什么要在自由市场经济中进行充分竞争?
Video: Market Failures, Taxes, and Subsidies
::视频:市场失灵、税收和补贴The Problem of Imperfect Information and Asymmetric Information
::信息不完善和不对称信息问题Consider a purchase that many people make at important times in their lives--buying expensive jewelry. In May 1994, Doree Lynn bought an expensive ring from a jeweler in Washington, D.C., which included an emerald that cost $14,500. Several years later, the emerald fractured. Lynn took it to another jeweler who found that cracks in the emerald had been filled with an epoxy resin. In 1997, Lynn sued the original jeweler for selling her a treated emerald without telling her and won. The case publicized a number of little-known facts about precious stones. Most emeralds have internal flaws, so they are soaked in clear oil or an epoxy resin to hide the flaws and make the color deeper and clearer. Clear oil can leak out over time, and epoxy resin can discolor with age or heat. However, using clear oil or epoxy to “fill” emeralds is completely legal, as long as it is disclosed.
::1994年5月,多里·林恩从华盛顿特区的珠宝商那里购买了一个昂贵的戒指,其中包括一个14 500美元的绿宝石。几年后,绿宝石破裂了。林恩把它交给另一个珠宝商,后者发现绿宝石的裂缝被一个环氧树脂填满。1997年,林恩起诉原珠宝商出售了一个治疗过的绿宝石,但没有告诉她,也没有赢。这个案件公布了一些关于宝石的鲜为人知的事实。大多数绿宝石都存在内部缺陷,因此它们浸在明确的石油或环氧树脂中,以掩盖缺陷,使颜色更深、更清晰。明确的石油会随着时间的推移泄漏,而环氧树脂会随着年龄或热量而变色。然而,只要披露清楚的石油或环氧树脂,就完全合法。After Doree Lynn’s lawsuit, the NBC news show “Dateline” bought emeralds at four prominent jewelry stores in New York City in 1997. All the sales clerks at these stores, unaware that they were being recorded on a hidden camera, said the stones were untreated. When the emeralds were tested at a laboratory, however, it was discovered they had all been treated with oil or epoxy. Emeralds are not the only gemstones that are treated. Diamonds, topaz, and tourmaline are also often irradiated to enhance colors. The general rule is that all treatments to gemstones should be revealed, but often disclosure is not made. As such, many buyers face a situation of asymmetric information, where both parties involved in an economic transaction have an unequal amount of information (one party knows much more than the other).
::在多里林的诉讼中,NBC新闻节目“Dateline”于1997年在纽约市的四家著名珠宝店购买了绿宝石。 这些商店的所有销售办事员都不知道这些宝石被记录在隐藏的相机上,但都说这些宝石没有被处理。 然而,当绿宝石在实验室测试时,发现它们都被用油或环氧来治疗。 翡翠石并不是唯一被治疗的宝石。 钻石、顶层和环球画也经常被辐照,以提升颜色。 一般规则是,所有宝石的处理方法都应该被披露,但常常没有披露。 如此,许多买家面临不对称信息的情况,因为参与经济交易的双方的信息数量都不平等(其中一方比另一方了解更多 ) 。Many economic transactions are made in a situation of imperfect information, where either the buyer, the seller, or both, are less than 100% certain about the qualities of what is being bought and sold. Also, the transaction may be characterized by asymmetric information, in which one party has more information than the other regarding the economic transaction. Let’s begin with some examples of how imperfect information complicates transactions in goods, labor, and financial capital markets. The presence of imperfect information can easily cause a decline in prices or quantities of products sold. However, buyers and sellers also have incentives to create mechanisms that will allow them to make mutually beneficial transactions even in the face of imperfect information.
::许多经济交易是在信息不完善的情况下进行的,买方、卖方或两者兼而有之,对买卖货物的质量都不到100%的确定度。 此外,交易的特征可能是不对称信息,其中一方对经济交易拥有比另一方更多的信息。 让我们首先举一些例子来说明不完善信息如何使货物、劳动力和金融资本市场的交易复杂化。不完善信息的存在很容易导致所售产品的价格或数量下降。 然而,买方和卖方也拥有建立机制的动力,即使面对不完善的信息,也能让他们进行互利交易。What is the Difference Between Imperfect and Asymmetric Information?
::不完美与非对称信息之间的差别是什么?For a market to reach equilibrium sellers and buyers must have full information about the product’s price and quality. If there is limited information, then buyers and sellers may not be able to transact or will possibly make poor decisions.
::市场要想达到平衡,卖主和买主必须充分了解产品的价格和质量。 如果信息有限,那么买主和卖主可能无法进行交易或可能做出错误的决定。Imperfect information refers to the situation where buyers and/or sellers do not have all of the necessary information to make an informed decision about the price or quality of a product. The term imperfect information simply means that not all the information necessary to make an informed decision is known to the buyers and/or sellers. Asymmetric information is the condition where one party, either the buyer or the seller, has more information about the quality or price of the product than the other party. In either case (imperfect or asymmetric information) buyers or sellers need remedies to make more informed decisions.
::不完整信息是指买方和(或)卖方没有掌握对产品价格或质量作出知情决定的所有必要信息的情况,不完善信息仅指买方和(或)卖方并不了解作出知情决定所需的所有信息。非对称信息是买方或卖方一方对产品质量或价格比另一方掌握更多信息的条件,无论在哪种情况下(不完善或不对称信息)买方或卖方都需要补救办法才能作出更知情的决定。“Lemons” and Other Examples of Imperfect Information
::“利蒙”和其他不完善信息实例Consider Marvin, who is trying to decide whether to buy a used car. Let’s assume that Marvin is truly clueless about what happens inside a car’s engine. He is willing to do some background research, like reading Consumer Reports or checking websites that offer information about makes and models of used cars and what they should cost. He might pay a mechanic to inspect the car. Even after devoting some money and time collecting information, however, Marvin still cannot be absolutely sure that he is buying a high-quality used car. He knows that he might buy the car, drive it home, and use it for a few weeks before discovering that car is a “lemon,” which is slang for a defective product (especially a car).
::马文(Marvin)试图决定是否购买一辆二手汽车。 让我们假设马文对汽车发动机内发生的事情真的一无所知。 他愿意做一些背景研究,比如阅读消费者报告或者检查提供旧车制造和型号信息的网站以及它们应该花费什么成本。 他可能付钱给一个机械师检查汽车。 但是,即使花费一些钱和时间收集信息,马文仍然不能绝对肯定他正在购买一辆高质量的二手汽车。 他知道自己可能购买汽车,开车回家,并在发现汽车是缺陷产品(特别是汽车)的“利蒙 ” ( Lemon ) 之前的几周内使用它。Imagine that Marvin shops for a used car and finds two that look very similar in terms of mileage, exterior appearances, and age. One car costs $4,000, while the other car costs $4,600. Which car should Marvin buy?
::想象一下马文的旧车商店,发现两辆在里程、外表和车龄方面看起来非常相似。 一辆车花费4 000美元,另一辆车花费4 600美元。 马文应该买哪辆汽车?If Marvin was choosing in a world of perfect information, the answer would be simple: he should buy the cheaper car. But Marvin is operating in a world of imperfect information where the sellers likely know more about the car’s problems than he does, and they have an incentive to hide the information. After all, the more problems that are disclosed, the lower the car’s selling price.
::如果马文选择了一个信息完美无缺的世界,答案很简单:他应该买便宜的汽车。 但马文却在一个信息不完善的世界里运作,在这个世界里,卖家可能比他更了解汽车的问题,而且他们有隐藏信息的动机。 毕竟,披露的问题越多,汽车的售价就越低。What should Marvin do? First, he needs to understand that even with imperfect information, prices still reflect information. Typically, used cars are more expensive on some dealer lots because the dealers have a trustworthy reputation to uphold. Those dealers try to fix problems that may not be obvious to their customers in order to create good word of mouth about their vehicles’ long-term reliability. The short-term benefits of selling their customers a “lemon” could cause a quick collapse in the dealer’s reputation and a loss of long-term profits. On other lots that are less well-established, one can find cheaper used cars, but the buyer takes on more risk when a dealer’s reputation has little at stake. The cheapest cars of all often appear on Craigslist, where the individual seller has no reputation to defend. In sum, cheaper prices do carry more risk, so Marvin should balance his appetite for risk versus the potential headaches of many more unanticipated trips to the repair shop.
::马文应该做什么? 首先,他需要理解,即使信息不完善,价格仍然能反映信息。 通常,旧车在某些经销商的批次上成本更高,因为经销商的声誉值得信赖。 这些经销商试图解决其客户可能并不明显的问题,以创造关于车辆长期可靠性的好口号。 销售其客户的“利蒙”的短期好处可能会导致经销商的名声迅速崩溃和长期利润损失。 在其他不太稳固的批次上,人们可以找到更便宜的旧车,但是当经销商的名声没有多大风险时,买主会承担更多的风险。 最廉价的汽车经常出现在克雷格斯单上,而个人卖方没有名声不响。 总之,更便宜的价格确实会带来更大的风险,因此马文应该平衡他的风险和许多意外前往修理店的潜在头痛。Similar problems with imperfect information arise in labor and financial capital markets. Consider Greta, who is applying for a job. Her potential employer, like the used car buyer, is concerned about ending up with a “lemon”—in this case a poor quality employee. The employer will collect information about Greta’s academic and work history. In the end, however, a degree of uncertainty will inevitably remain regarding Greta’s abilities, which are hard to demonstrate without actually observing her on the job. How can a potential employer screen for certain attributes, such as motivation, timeliness, ability to get along with others, and so on? Employers often look to trade schools and colleges to pre-screen candidates. Employers may not even interview a candidate unless he has a degree and, sometimes, a degree from a particular school. Employers may also view awards, a high grade point average, and other accolades as a signal of hard work, perseverance, and ability. Employers may also seek references for insights into key attributes such as energy level, work ethic, and so on.
::劳动力和金融资本市场也出现了类似信息不完善的类似问题。 想想格雷塔(Greta,谁正在申请工作 ) 。 她的潜在雇主,像旧车买主一样,担心最终会遇到“Lemon ” , 在本案中是低质量的雇员。雇主会收集Greta的学术和工作历史信息。然而,最终,Greta的能力将不可避免地存在一定程度的不确定性,因为Greta的能力很难在不实际观察她的工作的情况下进行演示。对于某些属性,比如动机、及时性、与他人相处的能力,等等,潜在的雇主怎么能够筛选出来?雇主往往会把学校和学院换成预筛选候选人。雇主甚至不会面试候选人,除非他有学位,有时还有特定学校的学位。雇主也可以将奖项、高等级平均值和其他奖项看成艰苦工作、坚韧和能力的信号。雇主也可以寻找关于能源水平、工作道德等关键属性的参考。How Imperfect Information Can Affect Equilibrium Price and Quantity
::不完整信息如何影响平衡价格和数量The presence of imperfect information can discourage both buyers and sellers from participating in the market. Buyers may become reluctant to participate because they cannot determine the quality of a product. Sellers of high-quality or medium-quality goods may be reluctant to participate because it is difficult to demonstrate the quality of their goods to buyers—and since buyers cannot determine which goods have higher quality, they are likely to be unwilling to pay a higher price for such goods.
::不完整信息的存在会阻碍买方和卖方参与市场,买方可能因为无法确定产品质量而不愿参与,高质量或中质货物的销售商可能不愿意参与,因为很难向买方证明其货物质量,而且由于买方无法确定哪些货物质量更高,他们可能不愿意为这类货物支付更高的价格。A market with few buyers and few sellers is sometimes referred to as a thin market. By contrast, a market with many buyers and sellers is called a thick market. When imperfect information is severe and buyers and sellers are discouraged from participating, markets may become extremely thin as a relatively small number of buyer and sellers attempt to communicate enough information that they can agree on a price.
::买家和卖家少的市场有时被称为薄市场,而买家和卖家多的市场则被称为厚市场,如果信息不完善情况严重,买家和卖家不愿参与,市场就会变得极其薄,因为买家和卖家试图传递足够信息,以便商定价格,数量相对较少。When Price Mixes with Imperfect Information about Quality
::当价格与不完善质量信息混合时A buyer confronted with imperfect information will often believe that the price being charged reveals something about the quality of the product. For example, a buyer may assume that a gemstone or a used car that costs more must be of higher quality, even though the buyer is not an expert on gemstones. Think of the expensive restaurant where the food must be good because it is so expensive or the shop where the clothes must be stylish because they cost so much, or the gallery where the art must be great because it costs so much. If you are hiring a lawyer, you might assume that a lawyer who charges $400 per hour must be better than a lawyer who charges $150 per hour. In these cases, the price can act as a signal of quality.
::面对不完善信息的买方往往会认为所收取的价格揭示了产品质量的某些方面。 比如,买方可以假定成本更高的宝石或二手汽车的质量必须更高,即使买方不是宝石专家。 想想昂贵的餐厅,那里的食品必须不错,因为价格太贵,或者服装必须时髦的商店,因为价格太贵,或者艺术品必须高的画廊,因为价格太高。 如果你聘请律师,你可以假设每小时收费400美元的律师必须比每小时收费150美元的律师要好。 在这种情况下,价格可以作为质量信号。When buyers use the market price to draw inferences about the quality of products, then markets may have trouble reaching an equilibrium price and quantity. Imagine a situation where a used car dealer has a lot full of used cars that do not seem to be selling, so the dealer decides to cut the prices of the cars to sell a greater quantity. In a market with imperfect information, many buyers may assume that the lower price implies low-quality cars. As a result, the lower price may not attract more customers. Conversely, a dealer who raises prices may find that customers assume that the higher price means that cars are of higher quality; as a result of raising prices, the dealer might sell more cars.
::当买家利用市场价格对产品质量进行推论时,市场可能难以达到平衡价格和数量。 想象一下旧车经销商拥有大量似乎没有销售的旧车的情况,因此经销商决定削减汽车价格,以便销售更多数量。 在信息不完善的市场中,许多买家可能认为低价意味着低价意味着低价汽车质量。 结果,低价可能吸引不到更多的顾客。 相反,提高价格的经销商可能会发现客户认为高价意味着汽车质量更高;由于价格上涨,经销商可能会出售更多的汽车。The idea that higher prices might cause a greater quantity demanded and that lower prices might cause a lower quantity demanded runs exactly counter to the basic model of demand and supply. These contrary effects, however, will reach natural limits. At some point, if the price is high enough, the quantity demanded will decline. Conversely, when the price declines far enough, buyers will increasingly find value even if the quality is lower. In addition, information eventually becomes more widely known. An overpriced restaurant that charges more than the quality of its food is worth to many buyers will not last forever.
::高价可能导致需求数量增加,低价可能导致需求数量减少的观念与供求基本模式完全背道而驰,但这些相反的影响将达到自然极限。 在某些时候,如果价格足够高,要求的数量就会下降。 相反,如果价格下降足够大,买方就会发现价值越来越高,即使质量更低。 此外,信息最终会越来越广为人知。 对许多买主来说,价格高于其食品质量的超价餐厅价值不会永远存在。Is Consumer Behavior Rational?
::消费者行为是否合理?There is a lot of human behavior out there that mainstream economists have tended to call “irrational” since it is consistently at odds with economists’ utility maximizing models. The typical response is for economists to brush these behaviors aside and call them “anomalies” or unexplained quirks.
::主流经济学家往往把许多人类行为称为“非理性 ” , 因为它始终与经济学家的实用最大化模式相矛盾。 典型的反应是经济学家把这些行为抛在一边,称之为“异常 ” 或无法解释的怪异。“If only you knew more economics, you would not be so irrational,” is what many mainstream economists seem to be saying. A group known as behavioral economists has challenged this notion, because so much of this so-called “quirky” behavior is extremely common among us. For example, a conventional economist would say that if you lost a $10 bill today, and also got an extra $10 in your paycheck, you should feel perfectly neutral. After all, –$10 + $10 = $0. You are the same financially as you were before. However, behavioral economists have done research that shows many people will feel some negative emotion—anger, frustration, and so forth—after those two things happen. We tend to focus more on the loss than the gain. This is known as “loss aversion,” where a $1 loss pains us 2.25 times more than a $1 gain helps us, according to the economists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in a famous 1979 Econometrica paper. This has implications for investing, as people tend to “overplay” the stock market by reacting more to losses than to gains.
::许多主流经济学家似乎都在说 : “ 如果只有你了解更多的经济学,你就不会如此不理性,” 。 许多主流经济学家似乎都在说 : “ 如果只有你了解更多的经济学,你就不会如此不理性。 ” 。 一个被称为行为经济学家的团体已经挑战了这个概念,因为许多所谓的“诡异”行为在我们中间极为常见。 比如,一个传统经济学家会说,如果你今天损失了10美元的帐单,而且你的薪水中增加了10美元,你应该感到完全中立。 毕竟,10美元+10美元=10美元。 你和以前一样在经济上。 然而,行为经济学家已经做了一些研究表明,在这两种事情发生之后,许多人会感到一些消极的情绪-愤怒、沮丧等等。 我们倾向于把注意力放在损失上,而不是收益上。 这被称为“损失规避 ” 。 根据经济学家Daniel Kahneman和Amos Tversky在著名的1979 Econtermata 论文中的说法,1美元损失比1美元的收益要让我们痛苦2.25倍以上。 ” 。 这对投资有影响,因为人们倾向于通过对损失的反应更多地“超越”股票市场,而不是对收益作出反应。Behavioral economics also tries to explain why people make seemingly irrational decisions in the presence of different situations, or how the decision is “framed.” A popular example is outlined here: Imagine you have the opportunity to buy an alarm clock for $20 in Store A. Across the street, you learn, is the exact same clock at Store B for $10. You might say it is worth your time—a five minute walk—to save $10. Now, take a different example: You are in Store A buying a $300 phone. Five minutes away, at Store B, the same phone is $290. You again save $10 by taking a five minute walk. Do you do it?
::行为经济学也试图解释为什么人们在不同情况下作出看起来不合理的决定,或者决定是如何“框架化的”。 这里列举的一个流行的例子就是:想象一下,你有机会在商店A买一个闹钟,20美元,在商店A。你了解到,街对面的时钟与商店B的时钟完全相同,10美元。你可以说,节省10美元是值得你花费的时间——5分钟步行。现在,举个不同的例子:你在商店A买一部300美元的电话。五分钟后,在商店B,同一部电话是290美元。你还要步行5分钟,节省10美元。你这样做吗?Surprisingly, it is likely that you would not. Mainstream economists would say “$10 is $10” and that it would be irrational to make a five minute walk for $10 in one case and not the other. However, behavioral economists have pointed out that most of us evaluate outcomes relative to a reference point—here the cost of the product—and think of gains and losses as percentages rather than using actual savings.
::令人惊讶的是,你很可能不会这样做。 主流经济学家会说“10美元是10美元 ” , 在一个案例中为10美元而不是在另一个案例中为10美元步行5分钟是不合理的。 然而,行为经济学家指出,我们大部分人对一个参考点(即产品成本)的成果进行评估,并将损益视为百分比而不是实际储蓄。Which view is right? Both have their advantages, but behavioral economists have at least shed a light on trying to describe and explain systematic behavior which previously has been dismissed as irrational. If most of us are engaged in some “irrational behavior,” perhaps there are deeper underlying reasons for this behavior in the first place.
::哪种观点是正确的? 两种观点都有其优点,但行为经济学家至少可以说明如何描述和解释先前被否定为非理性的系统性行为。 如果我们大部分人都从事某种“理性行为 ” , 也许首先有更深层的内在原因。Mechanisms to Reduce the Risk of Imperfect Information
::减少不完善信息风险的机制If you were selling a good like emeralds or used cars where imperfect information is likely to be a problem, how could you reassure possible buyers? If you were buying a good where imperfect information is a problem, what would it take to reassure you? Buyers and sellers in the goods market rely on reputation as well as guarantees, warrantees, and service contracts to assure product quality. In the labor market, occupational licenses and certifications are used to assure competency, while in financial capital market cosigners and collateral are used as insurance against unforeseen, detrimental events.
::如果你卖的是像emeralds这样的好东西,或者卖的是可能存在问题的信息不完善的旧汽车,那么你又如何向可能的买主保证?如果买的是信息不完善的好东西,那需要怎样才能给你保证?商品市场的买主和卖主依靠信誉以及保证、被担保人和服务合同来保证产品质量。 在劳动力市场,职业许可证和证书被用来保证能力,而在金融市场,合同和抵押品被用来作为意外的有害事件的保险。In the goods market, the seller of a good might offer a money-back guarantee, an agreement that functions as a promise of quality. This strategy may be especially important for a company that sells goods through mail-order catalogs or over the web, whose customers cannot see the actual products, because it encourages people to buy something even if they are not certain they want to keep it.
::在商品市场中,货物卖主可以提供回扣担保,协议可以保证质量。 对于通过邮购目录或网络销售货物的公司来说,这一战略可能特别重要,因为客户看不到实际产品,因为它鼓励人们购买某些东西,即使他们不确定自己想保留这些产品。L.L. Bean started using money-back-guarantees in 1911 when the founder stitched waterproof shoe rubbers together with leather shoe tops and sold them as hunting shoes. He guaranteed satisfaction. However, the stitching came apart and, out of the first batch of 100 pairs that were sold, 90 pairs were returned. L.L. Bean took out a bank loan, repaired all of the shoes, and replaced them. The L.L. Bean reputation for customer satisfaction began to spread. Many firms today offer money-back-guarantees for a few weeks or months, but L.L. Bean offers a complete money-back guarantee. Anything you have bought from L.L. Bean can always be returned, no matter how many years later or what condition the product is in, for a full money-back guarantee.
::L.L.Bean于1911年开始使用防水鞋橡胶和皮鞋顶部缝合,并将其作为狩猎鞋出售。他保证了满意。然而,缝合破裂,在第一批售出的100对中,有90对被退回。L.L.L.Bean借了银行贷款,修理了所有鞋,并替换了鞋。L.L.L.Bean对客户满意度的声誉开始扩大。今天,许多公司提供了几个星期或几个月的防水鞋橡胶和皮鞋顶部,并将它们作为狩猎鞋出售。L.L.Bean提供了完全的反钱担保。你从L.L.Bean那里购买的任何东西都可以退回,不管多少年后,也不管产品处于什么状况,只要有完整的回钱担保。L.L. Bean has very few stores. Instead, most of its sales are made by mail, telephone, or, now, through their website. For this kind of firm, imperfect information may be an especially difficult problem because customers cannot see and touch what they are buying. A combination of a money-back guarantee and a reputation for quality can help for a mail-order firm to flourish.
::L.L.Bean只有很少的商店。 相反,大部分销售都是通过邮件、电话或现在的网站进行。 对于这种公司来说,不完善的信息可能是一个特别困难的问题,因为客户看不到和碰不到他们购买的东西。 将回款担保与质量声誉相结合可以帮助邮购公司兴旺起来。Sellers may offer a warranty, which is a promise to fix or replace the good, at least for a certain period of time. The seller may also offer a buyer a chance to buy a service contract where the buyer pays an extra amount and the seller agrees to fix anything that goes wrong for a set time period. Service contracts are often used with large purchases such as cars, appliances and even houses.
::卖方可以提供担保,即承诺至少在一定时期内修理或更换货物,卖方还可以向买方提供购买服务合同的机会,买方支付额外款项,卖方同意在规定期限内纠正任何错误,服务合同通常用于大宗采购,如汽车、电器、甚至房屋。Guarantees, warranties, and service contracts are examples of explicit reassurance that sellers provide. In many cases, firms also offer unstated guarantees. For example, some movie theaters might refund the cost of a ticket to a customer who walks out complaining about the show. Likewise, while restaurants do not generally advertise a money-back guarantee or exchange policies, many restaurants allow customers to exchange one dish for another or reduce the price of the bill if the customer is not satisfied.
::担保、保证和服务合同是卖方提供明确保证的例子。 在许多情况下,公司也提供未声明的保证。 比如,一些电影院可以将票价退还给对演出不满的顾客。 同样,尽管餐馆一般不做回钱担保或兑换政策广告,但许多餐馆允许顾客换一种菜,或者在顾客不满意的情况下降低账单价格。The rationale for these policies is that firms want repeat customers, who in turn will recommend the business to others; as such, establishing a good reputation is of paramount importance. When buyers know that a firm is concerned about its reputation, they are less likely to worry about receiving a poor-quality product. For example, a well-established grocery store with a good reputation can often charge a higher price than a temporary stand at a local farmer’s market, where the buyer may never see the seller again.
::这些政策的理由是公司想要重复客户,而他们反过来会向他人推荐企业;因此,建立良好声誉至关重要。 当买家知道一家公司担心其声誉时,他们不太可能担心获得劣质产品。 比如,一家名声良好的完善的杂货店往往会收取高于当地农民市场临时摊位的价格,买家可能再也见不到卖方了。Sellers of labor provide information through resumes, recommendations, school transcripts, and examples of their work. Occupational licenses are also used to establish quality in the labor market. Occupational licenses, which are typically issued by government agencies, show that a worker has completed a certain type of education or passed a certain test. Some of the professionals who must hold a license are doctors, teachers, nurses, engineers, accountants, and lawyers. In addition, most states require a license to work as a barber, an embalmer, a dietitian, a massage therapist, a hearing aid dealer, a counselor, an insurance agent, and a real estate broker. Some other jobs require a license in only one state. Minnesota requires a state license to be a field archeologist. North Dakota has a state license for bait retailers. In Louisiana, a state license is needed to be a “stress analyst” and California requires a state license to be a furniture upholsterer. According to a 2013 study from the University of Chicago, about 29% of U.S. workers have jobs that require occupational licenses.
::劳工销售商通过简历、建议、学校成绩单和工作实例提供信息。职业执照也被用于建立劳动力市场的质量。职业执照通常由政府机构发放,它表明工人已经完成了某种类型的教育或通过了某种考试。有些必须持有执照的专业人员是医生、教师、护士、工程师、工程师、会计师和律师。此外,大多数州要求获得作为理发师、美容师、美食师、按摩师、助听员、顾问、保险代理人和房地产经纪人工作的执照。其他一些工作只需要一个州的执照。 明尼苏达州要求获得国家执照才能成为实地考古学家。 北达科塔州拥有国家执照才能成为诱饵零售商。 在路易斯安那州,州需要获得国家执照才能成为“精神分析师 ” , 加利福尼亚州需要州执照才能成为家具装饰师。根据芝加哥大学2013年的一项研究,大约29%的美国工人有需要职业执照的工作。Occupational licenses have their downside as well, as they represent a barrier to entry to certain industries. This makes it more difficult for new entrants to compete with incumbents, which can lead to higher prices and less consumer choice. In industries that require licenses, the government has decided that the additional information provided by licenses outweighs the negative effect on competition.
::职业许可证也有其不利之处,因为它们是进入某些行业的障碍。 这使得新进入者更难与在职者竞争,这可能导致更高的价格和消费者选择的减少。 在需要许可证的行业,政府决定许可证提供的额外信息超过对竞争的负面影响。Are Advertisers Allowed to Benefit From Imperfect Information?
::广告商是否允许从不完善信息中受益?Many advertisements seem full of imperfect information—at least by what they imply. Driving a certain car, drinking a particular soda, or wearing a certain shoe are all unlikely to bring fashionable friends and fun automatically, if at all. The government rules on advertising, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), allow advertising to contain a certain amount of exaggeration about the general delight of using a product. They, however, also demand that if a claim is presented as a fact, it must be true.
::许多广告似乎充斥着不完善的信息 — — 至少从它们的含义看是如此。 驾驶一辆车、饮用某种苏打水或穿某种鞋都不可能自动带来时髦的朋友和乐趣(如果有的话 ) 。 联邦贸易委员会(FTC)实施的政府广告规则允许广告包含对使用某种产品的一般喜悦的夸大。 但是,它们也要求,如果将一项主张作为事实提出,它必须是真实的。Legally, deceptive advertising dates back to the 1950s when Colgate-Palmolive created a television advertisement that seemed to show Rapid Shave shaving cream being spread on sandpaper and then the sand was shaved off the sandpaper. What the television advertisement actually showed was sand sprinkled on Plexiglas—without glue—and then scraped aside by the razor.
::从法律上讲,欺骗性的广告可以追溯到1950年代,当时科尔盖特-帕尔莫利夫制造了一个电视广告,似乎显示快速剃须霜在沙纸上撒布,然后沙子被从沙纸上刮掉。 电视广告实际显示的是沙子洒在Pleciglas上,没有胶水,然后被剃刀刮掉。In the 1960s, in magazine advertisements for Campbell’s vegetable soup, the company was having problems getting an appetizing picture of the soup, because the vegetables kept sinking. So they filled a bowl with marbles and poured the soup over the top, so that the bowl appeared to be crammed with vegetables.
::20世纪60年代,在坎贝尔蔬菜汤杂志广告中,由于蔬菜不断沉没,该公司难以获得汤的开胃图片。 因此,他们用大理石填满了碗,把汤倒在顶部,使碗里似乎满是蔬菜。In the late 1980s, the Volvo Company filmed a television advertisement that showed a monster truck driving over cars, crunching their roofs—all except for the Volvo, which did not crush. However, the FTC found in 1991 that the roof of the Volvo used in the filming had been reinforced with an extra steel framework, while the roof supports on the other car brands had been cut.
::1980年代后期,沃尔沃公司拍摄了一部电视广告,显示一辆怪兽卡车在汽车上行驶,车顶被敲敲,除了沃尔沃车没有压碎,但公平贸易委员会于1991年发现,在拍摄时使用的沃尔沃车顶加了钢铁框架,而其他汽车品牌的车顶支架被切断。The Wonder Bread Company ran television advertisements featuring “Professor Wonder,” who said that because Wonder Bread contained extra calcium, it would help children’s minds work better and improve their memory. The FTC objected, and in 2002 the company agreed to stop running the advertisements.
::神奇面包公司在电视上刊登了以“奇迹教授”为主的广告,他说,因为神奇面包含有额外的钙,它会帮助儿童的思想更好地发挥作用,改善他们的记忆力。 公平贸易委员会反对,2002年,该公司同意停止经营广告。As can be seen in each of these cases, factual claims about the product’s performance are often checked, at least to some extent, by the Federal Trade Commission. Language and images that are exaggerated or ambiguous, but not actually false, are allowed in advertising. Untrue “facts” are not allowed. In any case, an old Latin saying applies when watching advertisements: Caveat emptor —that is, “let the buyer beware.”
::从这些案例中的每个案例都可以看出,关于产品性能的事实性能的主张往往至少在某种程度上由联邦贸易委员会进行核实。 广告中允许夸大或含糊的语言和图像,但实际上不是虚假的。 不允许不真实的“事实 ” 。 无论如何,一个古老的拉丁语句在看广告时适用:Caveat 强制书 — — 即“让买主小心 ” 。On the buyer’s side of the labor market, a standard precaution against hiring a “lemon” of an employee is to specify that the first few months of employment are officially a trial or probationary period, and that the worker can be let go for any reason or no reason after that time. Sometimes workers also receive lower pay during this trial period.
::在劳务市场的买方一方,防止雇用雇员 " lemon " 的标准预防措施是规定就业的头几个月是正式的试用期或试用期,此后工人可以因任何原因或没有任何理由被放行。 有时工人在试用期内的工资也较低。In the financial capital market, before a bank makes a loan, it requires a prospective borrower fill out forms regarding the sources of income; in addition, the bank conducts a credit check on the individual’s past borrowing. Another approach is to require a cosigner on a loan; that is, another person or firm who legally pledges to repay some or all of the money if the original borrower does not do so. Yet another approach is to require collateral, often property or equipment that the bank would have a right to seize and sell if the loan is not repaid.
::在金融资本市场上,在银行提供贷款之前,它要求潜在借款人填写收入来源的表格;此外,银行对个人过去的借款进行信用检查。 另一种方法是要求贷款的共同签字人,即如果原始借款人不这样做,另一人或公司合法保证偿还部分或全部资金。 另一种办法是要求抵押品,通常是如果贷款不偿还,银行有权扣押和出售的财产或设备。Buyers of goods and services cannot possibly become experts in evaluating the quality of gemstones, used cars, lawyers, and everything else they buy. Employers and lenders cannot be perfectly omniscient about whether possible workers will turn out well or potential borrowers will repay loans on time. But the mechanisms mentioned above can reduce the risks associated with imperfect information so that the buyer and seller are willing to proceed.
::商品和服务的买主不可能成为评估宝石、旧汽车、律师和其他物品质量的专家。 雇主和放款人不可能完全熟知可能的工人是否会成功或潜在借款人是否会及时偿还贷款。 但上述机制可以降低与不完善信息相关的风险,以便买方和卖方愿意继续。Markets have many ways to deal with imperfect information. In goods markets, buyers facing imperfect information about products may depend upon money-back guarantees, warranties, service contracts, and reputation. In labor markets, employers facing imperfect information about potential employees may turn to resumes, recommendations, occupational licenses for certain jobs, and employment for trial periods. In capital markets, lenders facing imperfect information about borrowers may require detailed loan applications and credit checks, cosigners, and collateral.
::市场有许多方法可以处理不完善的信息。 在商品市场,产品信息不完善的买主可能依赖于回扣担保、保证金、服务合同和声誉。 在劳动力市场,潜在员工信息不完善的雇主可能转向恢复、建议、某些工作的职业许可和试用期就业。 在资本市场,借款人信息不完善的放款人可能需要详细的贷款申请和信用检查、签名人和抵押品。
Across the country, countless people have protested, even risking arrest, against the Keystone XL Pipeline. (Credit: modification of image by “NoKXL”/Flickr Creative Commons)
Keystone XL
::键石 XLYou might have heard about Keystone XL in the news. It is a pipeline system designed to bring oil from Canada to the refineries near the Gulf of Mexico, as well as to boost crude oil production in the United States. While a private company, TransCanada, will own the pipeline, U.S. government approval is required because of its size and location. The pipeline is being built in four phases, with the first two currently in operation, bringing oil from Alberta, Canada, east across Canada, south through the United States into Nebraska and Oklahoma, and northeast again to Illinois. The third and fourth phases of the project, known as Keystone XL, would create a pipeline southeast from Alberta straight to Nebraska, and then from Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico.
::你也许在新闻中听说过基斯通 XL。 这是一个管道系统,旨在将石油从加拿大运到墨西哥湾附近的炼油厂,并刺激美国的原油生产。虽然一家私营公司TransCanada将拥有输油管,但由于输油管的规模和位置,需要美国政府的批准。 管道正在分四个阶段建造,前两个阶段目前正在运行,从艾伯塔、加拿大、加拿大东部、从加拿大东部、从美国南部到内布拉斯加州和俄克拉荷马、再到东北部到伊利诺伊州。 项目的第三和第四阶段,即Keystone XL,将直接从艾伯塔向内布拉斯加、然后从俄克拉何马向东南、再从俄克拉何马向墨西哥湾铺设一条输油管。Sounds like a great idea, right? A pipeline that would move much needed crude oil to the Gulf refineries would increase oil production for manufacturing needs, reduce price pressure at the gas pump, and increase overall economic growth. Supporters argue that the pipeline is one of the safest pipelines built yet, and would reduce America’s dependence on politically vulnerable Middle Eastern oil imports.
::听起来像一个好主意,对吗? 将急需的原油运到海湾炼油厂的管道将增加石油生产以满足制造业需求,降低天然气泵的价格压力,并增加总体经济增长。 支持者认为管道是最安全的管道之一,并将减少美国对政治上脆弱的中东石油进口的依赖。Not so fast, say its critics. The Keystone XL would be constructed over an enormous aquifer (one of the largest in the world) in the Midwest, and through an environmentally fragile area in Nebraska, causing great concern among environmentalists about possible destruction to the natural surroundings. They argue that leaks could taint valuable water sources and construction of the pipeline could disrupt and even harm indigenous species. Environmentalist groups have fought government approval of the proposed construction of the pipeline, and as of press time, the pipeline projects remain stalled.
::批评者们说,不要这么快。 关键石XL将建在中西部一个巨大的含水层(世界上最大的含水层之一 ) 上,并通过内布拉斯加一个环境脆弱的地区建造,引起环保主义者对自然环境可能遭到破坏的极大关注。 他们争辩说,漏水会污染宝贵的水源和管道的建设可能会破坏甚至伤害土著物种。 环保主义团体已经与政府反对拟议修建管道的工程进行了斗争,截至媒体发布时间,管道项目仍然停滞不前。Of course, environmental concerns matter when discussing issues related to economic growth. But how much should they factor in? In the case of the pipeline, how do we know how much damage it would cause when we do not know how to put a value on the environment? Would the benefits of the pipeline outweigh the opportunity cost? The issue of how to balance economic progress with unintended effects on our planet is the subject of this chapter.
::当然,在讨论与经济增长有关的问题时,环境问题很重要。但是,它们应该考虑多少?就管道而言,我们如何知道当我们不知道如何重视环境时,它将造成多大的损害?管道的好处是否会超过机会成本?如何平衡经济进步和对地球的意外影响的问题就是本章的主题。In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was so polluted that it spontaneously burst into flame. Air pollution was so bad at that time that Chattanooga, Tennessee was a city where, as an article from Sports Illustrated put it: “the death rate from tuberculosis was double that of the rest of Tennessee and triple that of the rest of the United States, a city in which the filth in the air was so bad it melted nylon stockings off women’s legs, in which executives kept supplies of clean white shirts in their offices so they could change when a shirt became too gray to be presentable, in which headlights were turned on at high noon because the sun was eclipsed by the gunk in the sky.”
::1969年,俄亥俄州的库亚霍加河被污染到自燃。 当时空气污染非常糟糕,田纳西州查塔努加(Chattanouga)是一个城市,正如《体育报》的文章所说 : “ 肺结核的死亡率是田纳西州其他地区的两倍,是美国其他地区的三倍。 在那里,空气中的污点是如此糟糕,它熔化了女性腿上的尼龙丝袜,在她办公室里,高管们保存着干净的白衬衫,当一件衬衫太灰了,不能展示出来时,他们就可以换衣服,在那个城市,由于天上的火把遮住了,太阳在正午时打开了灯。 ”The problem of pollution arises for every economy in the world, whether high-income or low-income, and whether market-oriented or command-oriented. Every country needs to strike some balance between production and environmental quality. This chapter begins by discussing how firms may fail to take certain social costs, like pollution, into their planning if they do not need to pay these costs. Traditionally, policies for environmental protection have focused on governmental limits on how much of each pollutant could be emitted. While this approach has had some success, economists have suggested a range of more flexible, market-oriented policies that reduce pollution at a lower cost. We will consider both approaches, but first, let’s see how economists frame and analyze these issues.
::污染问题产生于世界上每一个经济体,无论是高收入还是低收入经济体,不管是面向市场还是面向指令。 每个国家都需要在生产和环境质量之间达成某种平衡。 本章首先讨论公司在不需要支付这些成本的情况下如何不将某些社会成本,如污染等社会成本纳入其规划。 传统上,环境保护政策侧重于政府限制每种污染物的排放量。 虽然这一方法取得了一定的成功,但经济学家提出了一系列更灵活、更面向市场的政策,以较低的成本减少污染。 我们将考虑这两种方法,但首先让我们看看经济学家如何构建并分析这些问题。The Economics of Pollution
::污染经济学From 1970 to 2012, the U.S. population increased by one-third and the size of the U.S. economy more than doubled. Since the 1970s, however, the United States, using a variety of anti-pollution policies, has made genuine progress against a number of pollutants. lists users of energy—from residential to industrial—the types of fuels each used, and the emissions from each, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The table shows that emissions of certain key air pollutants declined substantially from 2007 to 2012; they dropped 730 million metric tons (MMT) a year—a 12% reduction. This seems to indicate that progress has been made in the United States in reducing overall carbon dioxide emissions, which cause greenhouse gases.
::从1970年到2012年,美国人口增加了三分之一,美国经济规模增加了一倍以上,但自1970年代以来,美国采用各种防污染政策,在对付一些污染物方面取得了真正的进展。 美国能源用户——从住宅到工业——列出所使用的燃料类型,以及每个燃料的排放量。 该表显示,某些关键空气污染物的排放量从2007年到2012年大幅下降;每年下降了7.3亿公吨,减少了12%。 这似乎表明,美国在减少二氧化碳排放总量方面取得了进展,二氧化碳排放总量导致温室气体。Despite the gradual reduction in emissions from fossil fuels, many important environmental issues remain. Along with the still high levels of air and water pollution, other issues include hazardous waste disposal, destruction of wetlands and other wildlife habitats, and the impact on human health from pollution.
::尽管化石燃料排放逐步减少,但许多重要的环境问题依然存在,空气和水污染仍然居高不下,其他问题包括有害废物的处理、湿地和其他野生生物生境的破坏以及污染对人类健康的影响。End-use Sector
::最终使用部门Coal
::煤炭Petroleum
::石油石油石油Natural Gas
::天然气天然气Purchased Electric Power Total Primary Fossil Fuels Residential
::住宅住宅(0)
(14)
(31)
(134)
(179)
Commercial
::商业商业(2)
(2)
(7)
(126)
(136)
Industrial
::工业工业(40)
(62)
31
(118)
(191)
Transportation
::运输运输运输0
(228)
5
(1)
(224)
Power
::电力(464)
(36)
(122)
-
-
Change 2007–2012
::2007 - 2012年变化(508)
(342)
121
(378)
(730)
U.S. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions from Fossil Fuels Consumed 2007–2012, Million Metric Tons (MMT) per Year(Source: EIA Monthly Energy Review)
Externalities
::外部因素Private markets, such as the cell phone industry, offer an efficient way to put buyers and sellers together and determine what goods are produced, how they are produced, and who gets them. The principle that voluntary exchange benefits both buyers and sellers is a fundamental building block of the economic way of thinking. Another important question to consider, however, is this: what happens when a voluntary exchange affects a third party who is neither the buyer nor the seller?
::私人市场,如手机行业,提供了一种有效的方法,可以将买卖双方聚集在一起,确定生产了哪些货物,如何生产,以及由谁获得这些货物。自愿交换原则既有利于买卖双方,也是经济思维方式的基石。然而,另一个需要考虑的重要问题是:当自愿交换影响到既非买方也非卖方的第三方时,会发生什么情况?As an example, consider a concert producer who wants to build an outdoor arena that will host country music concerts a half-mile from your neighborhood. You will be able to hear these outdoor concerts while sitting on your back porch—or perhaps even in your dining room. In this case, the sellers and buyers of concert tickets may both be quite satisfied with their voluntary exchange, but you have no voice in their market transaction. The effect of a market exchange on a third party who is outside or “external” to the exchange is called an externality. Because externalities that occur in market transactions affect other parties beyond those involved, they are sometimes called spillovers.
::例如,考虑一个音乐会制作人,如果他想建造一个室外竞技场,在你的邻里举行半英里的音乐会,你可以听到这些室外音乐会,坐在你后面的门廊上,也许甚至可以坐在你的餐厅里。在这种情况下,音乐会票的卖主和买主可能都对他们的自愿交换相当满意,但在他们的市场交易中你没有发言权。市场交换对交易所外部或“外部”第三方的影响被称为外在。由于市场交易中发生的外在因素影响到其他当事方,有时被称为溢出效应。Externalities can be negative or positive. If you hate country music, then having it waft into your house every night would be a negative externality. If you love country music, then what amounts to a series of free concerts would be a positive externality.
::外在因素可以是负面的,也可以是正面的。 如果你讨厌乡村音乐,那么每晚把音乐流进你家就会是负面的外在因素。 如果你喜欢乡村音乐,那么相当于一系列自由音乐会的就是积极的外在因素。Pollution as a Negative Externality
::污染作为负外部污染Pollution is a negative externality. Economists illustrate the social costs of production with a demand and supply diagram. The social costs include the private costs of production incurred by the company and the external costs of pollution that are passed on to society. 1 shows the demand and supply for manufacturing refrigerators. The demand curve (D) shows the quantity demanded at each price. The supply curve (S private ) shows the quantity of refrigerators supplied by all the firms at each price if they are taking only their private costs into account and they are allowed to emit pollution at zero cost. The market equilibrium (E 0 ), where quantity supplied and quantity demanded are equal, is at a price of $650 and a quantity of 45,000. This information is also reflected in the first three columns of 2.
::经济学家用供需图表来说明生产的社会成本。社会成本包括公司发生的私人生产成本和向社会转移的外部污染成本。 1 显示了制造冰箱的供需情况。需求曲线(D)显示了每种价格要求的数量。供应曲线(Sprecial)显示了所有公司仅考虑其私人成本并允许以零成本排放的每价冰箱的数量。市场平衡(E0),供应量和需求量相等,价格为650美元,数量为45 000美元。这一信息还反映在前三栏2中。Taking Social Costs into Account: A Supply Shift
::将社会成本考虑在内:供应转变If the firm takes only its own costs of production into account, then its supply curve will be S private , and the market equilibrium will occur at E 0 . Accounting for additional external costs of $100 for every unit produced, the firm’s supply curve will be S social . The new equilibrium will occur at E 1 .
::如果公司只考虑自己的生产成本,那么其供应曲线将是私营的,市场平衡将在E0出现。 计算每生产一个单位的额外的外部成本100美元,公司的供应曲线将是Ssocial。 新的平衡将在E1出现。Price
::价格价格价格Quantity Demanded
::所需数量Quantity Supplied before Considering Pollution Cost
::考虑污染成本之前供应的数量Quantity Supplied after Considering Pollution Cost
::考虑到污染成本后供应的数量$600
50,000
40,000
30,000
$650
45,000
45,000
35,000
$700
40,000
50,000
40,000
$750
35,000
55,000
45,000
$800
30,000
60,000
50,000
$850
25,000
65,000
55,000
$900
20,000
70,000
60,000
A Supply Shift Caused by Pollution Costs
::由污染成本引起的供应转移However, as a by-product of the metals, plastics, chemicals and energy that are used in manufacturing refrigerators, some pollution is created. Let’s say that, if these pollutants were emitted into the air and water, they would create costs of $100 per refrigerator produced. These costs might occur because of injuries to human health, property values, wildlife habitat, reduction of recreation possibilities, or because of other negative impacts. In a market with no anti-pollution restrictions, firms can dispose of certain wastes absolutely free. Now imagine that firms which produce refrigerators must factor in these external costs of pollution—that is, the firms have to consider not only the costs of labor and materials needed to make a refrigerator but also the broader costs to society of injuries to health and other values caused by pollution. If the firm is required to pay $100 for the additional external costs of pollution each time it produces a refrigerator, production becomes more costly and the entire supply curve shifts up by $100.
::然而,作为制造冰箱所使用的金属、塑料、化学品和能源的副产品,也造成了一些污染。我们可以假设,如果这些污染物排放到空气和水中,每生产一个冰箱就会产生100美元的成本。 这些费用可能是由于对人类健康、财产价值、野生生物栖息地的伤害、娱乐机会的减少或其他负面影响造成的。 在没有防污染限制的市场中,公司可以完全免费处置某些废物。 现在想象,生产冰箱的公司必须把污染的外部成本考虑在内 — — 也就是说,公司不仅必须考虑制造冰箱所需的劳动力和材料的成本,还要考虑给社会造成的健康伤害和其他污染造成的更大成本。 如果公司每次生产冰箱时都要支付额外的外部污染成本100美元,生产成本就会变得更高,整个供应曲线就会上升100美元。As illustrated in the fourth column of 2 and in 1, the firm will need to receive a price of $700 per refrigerator and produce a quantity of 40,000—and the firm’s new supply curve will be S social . The new equilibrium will occur at E 1 , taking the additional external costs of pollution into account results in a higher price, a lower quantity of production, and a lower quantity of pollution. The following Work It Out feature will walk you through an example, this time with musical accompaniment.
::正如第4栏第2和第1栏所说明的,公司需要每台冰箱收到700美元的价格并生产40,000美元 — — 公司的新供应曲线将是Ssocial。 新的平衡将在E1出现,考虑到污染的额外外部成本,这将导致更高的价格、较低的生产量和较低的污染量。 以下的WorkIt Out 功能将给您举个例子,这次是音乐伴奏。Remember that the supply curve is based on choices about the production that firms make while looking at their marginal costs, while the demand curve is based on the benefits that individuals perceive while maximizing utility. If no externalities existed, private costs would be the same as the costs to society as a whole, and private benefits would be the same as the benefits to society as a whole. Thus, if no externalities existed, the interaction of demand and supply will coordinate social costs and benefits.
::记住供应曲线是基于公司在考虑其边际成本时对生产做出的选择,而需求曲线则基于个人在最大限度地发挥效用时所认为的好处。 如果没有外部因素存在,私人成本与整个社会的成本是一样的,私人收益与整个社会的收益是一样的。 因此,如果没有外部因素存在,供求的相互作用将协调社会成本和效益。However, when the externality of pollution exists, the supply curve no longer represents all social costs. Because externalities represent a case where markets no longer consider all social costs, but only some of them, economists commonly refer to externalities as an example of market failure. When there is a market failure, the private market fails to achieve an efficient output, because either firms do not account for all costs incurred in the production of output and/or consumers do not account for all benefits obtained (a positive externality). In the case of pollution, at the market output, social costs of production exceed social benefits to consumers, and the market produces too much of the product.
::然而,当存在污染的外部性时,供应曲线不再代表所有社会成本,因为外部性代表市场不再考虑所有社会成本,而只考虑其中一部分,经济学家通常将外部性作为市场失败的一个例子。 当市场失灵时,私人市场无法实现高效产出,因为两个公司都没有计算产出生产的所有成本和(或)消费者没有计算获得的所有收益(积极的外部性 ) 。 在污染的情况下,在市场产出方面,生产的社会成本超过消费者的社会福利,而市场生产的产品过多。We can see a general lesson here. If firms were required to pay the social costs of pollution, they would create less pollution but produce less of the product and charge a higher price. In the next module, we will explore how governments require firms to take the social costs of pollution into account.
::我们可以从这里看到一个一般性的教训。 如果要求企业支付污染的社会成本,它们就会减少污染,但生产出的产品会更少,价格也会更高。 在下一个模块中,我们将探索政府如何要求企业将污染的社会成本考虑在内。Command-and-Control Regulation
::指挥和控制管制条例When the United States started passing comprehensive environmental laws in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a typical law specified how much pollution could be emitted out of a smokestack or a drainpipe and imposed penalties if that limit was exceeded. Other laws required the installation of certain equipment—for example, on automobile tailpipes or on smokestacks—to reduce pollution. These types of laws, which specify allowable quantities of pollution and which also may detail which pollution-control technologies must be used, fall under the category of command-and-control regulation. In effect, the command-and-control regulation requires that firms increase their costs by installing anti-pollution equipment; firms are thus required to take the social costs of pollution into account.
::当美国于1960年代后期和1970年代初开始通过全面的环境法时,一项典型的法律具体规定了烟囱或排气管可排放多少污染,如果超过这一限度,则处以罚款;其他法律要求安装某些设备,例如汽车排气管或烟囱,以减少污染;这类法律具体规定了允许的污染量,也可能详细说明了必须使用哪些污染控制技术;实际上,指挥和控制条例要求各公司通过安装防污染设备来增加其成本;因此要求各公司考虑到污染的社会成本。Command-and-control regulation has been highly successful in protecting and cleaning up the U.S. environment. In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created to oversee all environmental laws. In the same year, the Clean Air Act was enacted to address air pollution. Just two years later, in 1972, Congress passed and the president signed the far-reaching Clean Water Act. These command-and-control environmental laws, and their amendments and updates have been largely responsible for America’s cleaner air and water in recent decades. However, economists have pointed out three difficulties with command-and-control environmental regulation.
::指挥与控制条例在保护和清理美国环境方面非常成功。 1970年,成立了环境保护署(EPA)来监督所有环境法。 同年,颁布了清洁空气法以解决空气污染问题。 就在两年后,1972年,国会通过,总统签署了影响深远的清洁水法。 这些指挥与控制环境法及其修正和更新近几十年来主要负责美国清洁空气和水。 然而,经济学家们指出,指挥与控制环境监管有三大困难。First, command-and-control regulation offers no incentive to improve the quality of the environment beyond the standard set by a particular law. Once the command-and-control regulation has been satisfied, polluters have zero incentive to do better.
::首先,指挥与控制条例没有提供超出特定法律标准以外的改善环境质量的激励。 一旦指挥和控制条例得到满足,污染者就没有任何改进的激励。Second, command-and-control regulation is inflexible. It usually requires the same standard for all polluters, and often the same pollution-control technology as well. This means that command-and-control regulation draws no distinctions between firms that would find it easy and inexpensive to meet the pollution standard—or to reduce pollution even further—and firms that might find it difficult and costly to meet the standard. Firms have no reason to rethink their production methods in fundamental ways that might reduce pollution even more and at lower cost.
::其次,指挥和控制监管是不可灵活的,它通常要求所有污染者都采用同样的标准,而且通常也采用相同的污染控制技术。 这意味着指挥和控制监管在满足污染标准(或进一步减少污染)和可能难以达到标准而且费用高昂的公司之间没有区分,在根本上可能以更低的成本减少污染的情况下,对公司和公司不加区分。 公司没有理由重新思考其生产方法。Third, command-and-control regulations are written by legislators and the EPA, and so they are subject to compromises in the political process. Existing firms often argue (and lobby) that stricter environmental standards should not apply to them, only to new firms that wish to start production. Consequently, real-world environmental laws are full of fine print, loopholes, and exceptions.
::第三,指挥和控制条例由立法者和环保局制定,因此在政治进程中要妥协。 现有公司经常争辩说(并游说 ) , 更严格的环境标准不应适用于它们,而只适用于希望开始生产的新公司。 因此,现实世界的环境法充满了精细的印刷、漏洞和例外。Although critics accept the goal of reducing pollution, they question whether command-and-control regulation is the best way to design policy tools for accomplishing that goal. A different approach is the use of market-oriented tools, which are discussed in the next section.
::尽管批评者接受减少污染的目标,但他们质疑指挥和控制监管是否是设计实现这一目标的政策工具的最佳方法。 另一种不同的方法是使用面向市场的工具,下一节将讨论这些问题。Market-Oriented Environmental Tools
::面向市场的环境工具Market-oriented environmental policies create incentives to allow firms some flexibility in reducing pollution. The three main categories of market-oriented approaches to pollution control are pollution charges, marketable permits, and better-defined property rights. All of these policy tools, discussed below, address the shortcomings of command-and-control regulation—albeit in different ways.
::以市场为导向的环境政策创造激励机制,使企业在减少污染方面有一定的灵活性。 以市场为导向的污染控制方针的三大类是污染收费、可销售的许可证和明确界定的产权。 所有这些政策工具在下文中讨论,解决指挥和控制监管的缺陷,尽管它们的方式不同。Pollution Charges
::污染污染电费A pollution charge is a tax imposed on the quantity of pollution that a firm emits. A pollution charge gives a profit-maximizing firm an incentive to figure out ways to reduce its emissions—as long as the marginal cost of reducing the emissions is less than the tax.
::污染收费是对公司排放的污染量征收的税,污染收费能激励利润最大化的公司找出减少排放的方法,只要减少排放的边际成本低于税收。For example, consider a small firm that emits 50 pounds per year of small particles, such as soot, into the air. Particulate matter, as it is called, causes respiratory illnesses and also imposes costs on firms and individuals.
::例如,考虑一个小公司每年向空气中排放50磅小粒子(如烟尘)的小型公司。 分裂物质(如所谓的分裂物质)会导致呼吸道疾病,也给公司和个人带来成本。2 illustrates the marginal costs that a firm faces in reducing pollution. The marginal cost of pollution reduction, like most marginal cost curves increases with output, at least in the short run. Reducing the first 10 pounds of particulate emissions costs the firm $300. Reducing the second 10 pounds would cost $500; reducing the third ten pounds would cost $900; reducing the fourth 10 pounds would cost $1,500; and the fifth 10 pounds would cost $2,500. This pattern for the costs of reducing pollution is common, because the firm can use the cheapest and easiest method to make initial reductions in pollution, but additional reductions in pollution become more expensive.
::2 说明了一家公司在减少污染方面所面临的边际成本。减少污染的边际成本,如同大多数边际成本曲线随产出而增加一样,至少在短期内会增加。减少头10磅微粒排放成本需要公司300美元。减少后10磅粒子排放成本需要500美元;减少后10磅成本需要900美元;减少第四10磅成本需要1 500美元;第五10磅成本需要2 500美元。这种降低污染成本的模式很常见,因为公司可以使用最便宜、最容易的方法初步减少污染,但进一步减少污染成本更高。A Pollution Charge
::A 污染充电If a pollution charge is set equal to $1,000, then the firm will have an incentive to reduce pollution by 30 pounds because the $900 cost of these reductions would be less than the cost of paying the pollution charge.
::如果污染费定为1 000美元,那么公司将具有将污染减少30磅的动力,因为这些减少的900美元费用将低于支付污染费的费用。Imagine the firm now faces a pollution tax of $1,000 for every 10 pounds of particulates emitted. The firm has the choice of either polluting and paying the tax, or reducing the amount of particulates they emit and paying the cost of abatement as shown in the figure. How much will the firm pollute and how much will the firm abate? The first 10 pounds would cost the firm $300 to abate. This is substantially less than the $1,000 tax, so they will choose to abate. The second 10 pounds would cost $500 to abate, which is still less than the tax, so they will choose to abate. The third 10 pounds would cost $900 to abate, which is slightly less than the $1,000 tax. The fourth 10 pounds would cost $1,500, which is much more costly than paying the tax. As a result, the firm will decide to reduce pollutants by 30 pounds, because the marginal cost of reducing pollution by this amount is less than the pollution tax. With a tax of $1,000, the firm has no incentive to reduce pollution more than 30 pounds.
::想象一下公司现在每排放10磅微粒就会面临1 000美元的污染税。 公司可以选择污染和纳税,或者减少它们排放的微粒数量并支付减排成本(如图所示 ) 。 公司要污染多少,公司要减少多少? 头10磅公司要减少300美元。 这大大低于1 000美元的税, 因此它们会选择减税。 第二10磅公司要减税500美元,这比税还低,所以它们会选择减税。 第三10磅公司要减税900美元,略低于1 000美元的减税。 第四10磅公司要花1 500美元,这比缴税要高得多。 结果,公司会决定减少污染物30磅,因为减少污染的边际成本比污染税少。 如果征收1 000美元税,公司就不会有减少污染超过30磅的动机。A firm that has to pay a pollution tax will have an incentive to figure out the least expensive technologies for reducing pollution. Firms that can reduce pollution cheaply and easily will do so to minimize their pollution taxes, whereas firms that will incur high costs for reducing pollution will end up paying the pollution tax instead. If the pollution tax applies to every source of pollution, then no special favoritism or loopholes are created for politically well-connected producers.
::必须支付污染税的公司将具有找到减少污染最廉价技术的动力。 能够廉价和容易减少污染的企业将这样做,以尽量减少污染税,而减少污染成本高昂的公司最终将支付污染税。 如果污染税适用于所有污染源,那么就不会为政治上关系良好的生产者制造特殊优惠或漏洞。For an example of a pollution charge at the household level, consider two ways of charging for garbage collection. One method is to have a flat fee per household, no matter how much garbage a household produces. An alternative approach is to have several levels of fees, depending on how much garbage the household produces—and to offer lower or free charges for recyclable materials. As of 2006 (latest statistics available), the EPA had recorded over 7,000 communities that have implemented “pay as you throw” programs. When people have a financial incentive to put out less garbage and to increase recycling, they find ways of doing so.
::对于家庭一级污染收费的一个例子,请考虑两种垃圾收集收费方式:一种是每个家庭收取平价费用,不管家庭产生的垃圾有多少;另一种办法是,根据家庭产生的垃圾多少,收取若干水平的费用,并且提供较低的或免费的可回收材料费用;截至2006年(现有最新统计数据),环保局记录了7 000多个社区实施了“随你扔”方案;当人们有财力鼓励少扔垃圾和增加回收时,他们就会找到这样做的方法。A number of environmental policies are really pollution charges, although they often do not travel under that name. For example, the federal government and many state governments impose taxes on gasoline. We can view this tax as a charge on the air pollution that cars generate as well as a source of funding for maintaining roads. Indeed, gasoline taxes are far higher in most other countries than in the United States.
::一些环境政策实际上是污染收费,尽管它们通常不以这种名义旅行。 比如,联邦政府和许多州政府征收汽油税。 我们可以将这种税收视为汽车产生的空气污染的收费以及维护道路的资金来源。 事实上,在大多数其他国家,汽油税比美国要高得多。Similarly, the refundable charge of five or 10 cents that only 10 states have for returning recyclable cans and bottles works like a pollution tax that provides an incentive to avoid littering or throwing bottles in the trash. Compared with command-and-control regulation, a pollution tax reduces pollution in a more flexible and cost-effective way.
::类似地,只有10个州对回收可回收罐和瓶子征收5到10美分的可退还费用,这就像一种污染税,鼓励人们避免垃圾或把瓶子扔进垃圾桶中。 与指挥和控制条例相比,污染税以更灵活和更具成本效益的方式减少污染。Marketable Permits
::市场准入许可证When a city or state government sets up a marketable permit program (e.g. cap-and-trade), it must start by determining the overall quantity of pollution it will allow as it tries to meet national pollution standards. Then, a number of permits allowing only this quantity of pollution are divided among the firms that emit that pollutant. These permits to pollute can be sold or given to firms free.
::当城市或州政府建立可销售的许可证方案(如上限和交易)时,它必须首先确定在试图达到国家污染标准时允许的污染总量。 然后,只允许这种污染数量的许可证在排放污染物的公司之间分配。 这些污染许可证可以免费出售或发放给公司。Now, add two more conditions. Imagine that these permits are designed to reduce total emissions over time. For example, a permit may allow emission of 10 units of pollution one year, but only nine units the next year, then eight units the year after that, and so on down to some lower level. In addition, imagine that these are marketable permits, meaning that firms can buy and sell them.
::现在,再增加两个条件。想象一下,这些许可证旨在随着时间的推移减少排放总量。 比如,许可证可能允许每年排放10个污染单位,但下一年只允许排放9个污染单位,然后再允许8个污染单位,然后降低到较低水平。 此外,想象这些许可证是可销售的许可证,这意味着公司可以购买和销售这些许可证。To see how marketable permits can work to reduce pollution, consider the four firms listed in 3. The table shows current emissions of lead from each firm. At the start of the marketable permit program, each firm receives permits to allow this level of pollution. However, these permits are shrinkable, and next year the permits allow the firms to emit only half as much pollution. Let’s say that in a year, Firm Gamma finds it easy and cheap to reduce emissions from 600 tons of lead to 200 tons, which means that it has permits that it is not using that allow emitting 100 tons of lead. Firm Beta reduces its lead pollution from 400 tons to 200 tons, so it does not need to buy any permits, and it does not have any extra permits to sell. However, although Firm Alpha can easily reduce pollution from 200 tons to 150 tons, it finds that it is cheaper to purchase permits from Gamma rather than to reduce its own emissions to 100. Meanwhile, Firm Delta did not even exist in the first period, so the only way it can start production is to purchase permits to emit 50 tons of lead.
::为了了解市场许可如何有助于减少污染,请考虑3中列出的四家公司,本表显示每家公司目前排放的铅。 在市场许可计划开始时,每家公司都获得允许污染水平的许可。然而,这些许可是可以缩减的,明年,许可证允许各公司排放的污染量只有一半。 可以说,在一年内,Gamma公司发现将600吨铅的排放量从600吨减少到200吨是容易和廉价的,这意味着它拥有允许排放100吨铅的许可。 Beta公司将铅污染从400吨减少到200吨,因此不需要购买任何许可证,也没有额外的许可证可以出售。 然而,尽管Alpha公司很容易将污染量从200吨减少到150吨,但它发现从Gamma公司购买许可证比将自己的排放量减少到100吨要便宜得多,而在最初阶段,Corp Delta公司甚至不存在,因此它能够开始生产的唯一方法是购买50吨铅的许可证。The total quantity of pollution will decline. But the buying and selling of the marketable permits will determine exactly which firms reduce pollution and by how much. With a system of marketable permits, the firms that find it least expensive to do so will reduce pollution the most.
::污染总量将下降。 但购买和销售可销售许可证将决定哪些公司能减少污染,多少。 有了可销售许可证制度,那些发现这样做成本最低的公司将减少最大的污染。Firm Alpha
::Alpha公司Firm Beta
::贝塔公司Firm Gamma
::硬伽玛Firm Delta
::三角洲公司Current emissions—permits distributed free for this amount
::免费发放的当前排放量许可证200 tons
::200吨 200吨400 tons
::400吨 400吨600 tons
::600吨600吨0 tons
::0吨 0吨How much pollution will these permits allow in one year?
::一年之内这些许可证允许多少污染?100 tons
::100吨200 tons
::200吨 200吨300 tons
::300吨 300吨0 tons
::0吨 0吨Actual emissions one year in the future
::未来一年实际排放量150 tons
::150吨200 tons
::200吨 200吨200 tons
::200吨 200吨50 tons
::50吨 50吨Buyer or seller of marketable permit?
::销售许可证的买主还是卖主?Buys permits for 50 tons
::50吨购买许可证Doesn’t buy or sell permits
::不购买或出售许可证Sells permits for 100 tons
::100吨销售许可证Buys permits for 50 tons
::50吨购买许可证How Marketable Permits Work
::市场许可证如何有效Another application of marketable permits occurred when the Clean Air Act was amended in 1990. The revised law sought to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from electric power plants to half of the 1980 levels out of concern that sulfur dioxide was causing acid rain, which harms forests as well as buildings. In this case, the marketable permits the federal government issued were free of charge (no pun intended) to electricity-generating plants across the country, especially those that were burning coal (which produces sulfur dioxide). These permits were of the “shrinkable” type; that is, the amount of pollution allowed by a given permit declined with time.
::1990年修订《清洁空气法》时,又适用了另一项可销售许可证,修订后的法律力求将发电厂的二氧化硫排放量减少到1980年水平的一半,因为担心二氧化硫正在造成酸雨,从而损害森林和建筑物,在这种情况下,联邦政府发放的可销售许可证对全国的发电厂,特别是燃烧煤炭(产生二氧化硫)的发电厂,是免费的(无意的),这些许可证属于“可削减的”类型,即许可证允许的污染量随时间而减少。Visit this to learn more about pay-as-you-throw programs, including viewing a map and a table that shows the number of communities using this program in each state.
::访问此访问以了解更多现收现付方案, 包括查看地图和表格, 显示每个州使用此方案的社群数量 。Better-Defined Property Rights
::更明确界定的财产权A clarified and strengthened idea of property rights can also strike a balance between economic activity and pollution. Ronald Coase (1910–2013), who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in economics, offered a vivid illustration of an externality: a railroad track running beside a farmer’s field where the railroad locomotive sometimes gives off sparks and sets the field ablaze. Coase asked whose responsibility it was to address this spillover. Should the farmer be required to build a tall fence alongside the field to block the sparks? Or should the railroad be required to put some gadget on the locomotive’s smokestack to reduce the number of sparks?
::明确和强化的产权理念也可以在经济活动和污染之间取得平衡。 荣获1991年诺贝尔经济学奖的罗纳德·科泽(Ronald Coase (1910-2013)生动地展示了外部性:一条沿着农民田地运行的铁路轨迹,铁路火车头有时会点燃火花并点燃田的火焰。 Coase问道,谁有责任解决这一溢出问题。 是否应该要求农民在田地边建造高高的栅栏来阻塞火花? 还是应该要求铁路在火车头的烟雾堆上安装一些小装置以减少火花的数量?Coase pointed out that this issue cannot be resolved until property rights are clearly defined—that is, the legal rights of ownership on which others are not allowed to infringe without paying compensation. Does the farmer have a property right not to have a field burned? Does the railroad have a property right to run its own trains on its own tracks? If neither party has a property right, then the two sides may squabble endlessly, nothing will be done, and sparks will continue to set the field aflame. However, if either the farmer or the railroad has a well-defined legal responsibility, then that party will seek out and pay for the least costly method of reducing the risk that sparks will hit the field. The property right determines whether the farmer or the railroad pays the bills.
::COase指出,在产权得到明确界定之前,这个问题是无法解决的,也就是说,在不支付补偿的情况下,其他人不得侵犯的合法所有权,而其他人不得侵犯这些所有权,农民是否拥有不烧毁田地的财产权?铁路是否拥有在自己的轨道上经营自己的火车的财产权?如果任何一方都没有财产权,那么双方可能会无休止地争吵不休,没有事可做,火花将继续使田地起火。然而,如果农民或铁路有明确界定的法律责任,那么该当事方将寻找和支付降低触发田地的风险的最廉价的方法。产权决定的是农民还是铁路支付账单。The property rights approach is highly relevant in cases involving endangered species. The U.S. government’s endangered species list includes about 1,000 plants and animals, and about 90% of these species live on privately owned land. The protection of these endangered species requires careful thinking about incentives and property rights. The discovery of an endangered species on private land has often triggered an automatic reaction from the government to prohibit the landowner from using that land for any purpose that might disturb the imperiled creatures. Consider the incentives of that policy: If you admit to the government that you have an endangered species, the government effectively prohibits you from using your land. As a result, rumors abounded of landowners who followed a policy of “shoot, shovel, and shut up” when they found an endangered animal on their land. Other landowners have deliberately cut trees or managed land in a way that they knew would discourage endangered animals from locating there.
::在涉及濒危物种的案件中,产权方法具有高度相关性。 美国政府的濒危物种清单包括大约1,000种动植物,其中约90%的濒危物种生活在私有土地上。 保护这些濒危物种需要仔细思考激励和产权。 在私人土地上发现濒危物种往往引发政府自动反应,禁止土地所有者将濒危物种用于任何可能扰乱濒危物种的任何目的。 想想这一政策的激励因素:如果你向政府承认你拥有濒危物种,政府就有效禁止你使用自己的土地。 结果,在土地发现濒危动物时,大量奉行“射击、铲铲子和关闭”政策的地主的传言。 其他土地所有者故意砍树或管理土地,他们知道这样做会阻止濒危动物到那里去。A more productive policy would consider how to provide private landowners with an incentive to protect the endangered species that they find and to provide a habitat for additional endangered species. For example, the government might pay landowners who provide and maintain suitable habitats for endangered species or who restrict the use of their land to protect an endangered species. Again, an environmental law built on incentives and flexibility offers greater promise than a command-and-control approach, which tries to oversee millions of acres of privately owned land.
::一项更有成效的政策将考虑如何向私人土地所有者提供保护其发现的濒危物种的奖励,并为其他濒危物种提供栖息地,例如,政府可能向那些为濒危物种提供和维持适当生境或限制使用其土地保护濒危物种的土地所有者支付报酬。 同样,建立在激励和灵活性基础上的环境法比试图监督数百万英亩私有土地的指挥和控制办法提供更大的希望。Applying Market-Oriented Environmental Tools
::应用面向市场的环境工具Market-oriented environmental policies are a toolkit. Specific policy tools will work better in some situations than in others. For example, marketable permits work best when a few dozen or a few hundred parties are highly interested in trading, as in the cases of oil refineries that trade lead permits or electrical utilities that trade sulfur dioxide permits. However, for cases in which millions of users emit small amounts of pollution—such as emissions from car engines or unrecycled soda cans—and have no strong interest in trading, pollution charges will typically offer a better choice. Market-oriented environmental tools can also be combined. Marketable permits can be viewed as a form of improved property rights. Or the government could combine marketable permits with a pollution tax on any emissions not covered by a permit.
::以市场为导向的环境政策是一个工具包,具体的政策工具在某些情况下会比在其他情况下效果更好,例如,当几十个或几百个当事方对贸易非常感兴趣时,可销售的许可证效果最好,例如,在炼油厂贸易领头的许可证或二氧化硫贸易所允许的电力公用事业方面,但是,对于数百万用户排放少量污染——例如汽车发动机或未回收苏打罐的排放——并且对贸易没有强烈兴趣,污染收费通常会提供更好的选择。面向市场的环境工具也可以合并起来。可销售的许可证可以被视为一种改善产权的形式。或者政府可以将可销售的许可证与对许可证未涵盖的任何排放征收的污染税结合起来。Visit this website to learn more about pay-as-you-throw programs, including viewing a map and a table that shows the number of communities using this program in each state.
::访问这个网站以了解更多现收现付方案, 包括查看地图和表格, 显示每个州使用此方案的社群数量。The Benefits and Costs of U.S. Environmental Laws
::美国环境法的惠益和费用Government economists have estimated that U.S. firms may pay more than $200 billion per year to comply with federal environmental laws. That is big bucks. Is the money well spent?
::政府经济学家估计美国公司每年可能支付2 000多亿美元,以遵守联邦环境法。这是大钱。 钱花得好吗?Clean Air and Clean Water
::清洁空气和清洁水The benefits of a cleaner environment can be divided into four areas: (1) people may stay healthier and live longer; (2) certain industries that rely on clean air and water, such as farming, fishing, and tourism, may benefit; (3) property values may be higher; and (4) people may simply enjoy a cleaner environment in a way that does not need to involve a market transaction. Some of these benefits, such as gains to tourism or farming, are relatively easy to value in economic terms. It is harder to assign a monetary value to others, such as the value of clean air for someone with asthma. It seems impossible to put a clear-cut monetary value on still others, such as the satisfaction you might feel from knowing that the air is clear over the Grand Canyon, even if you have never visited the Grand Canyon.
::清洁环境的好处可以分为四个方面1) 人民可以保持健康,延长寿命;(2) 某些依赖清洁空气和水的行业,如农业、渔业和旅游业,可以受益;(3) 财产价值可能更高;(4) 人民可以简单地享受清洁环境,而不必涉及市场交易,其中一些好处,如旅游业或农业收益,从经济角度来说比较容易估价; 更难给其他人分配货币价值,如对哮喘病人来说清洁空气的价值; 似乎不可能对其他人提出明确的货币价值,例如,你可能感到欣慰的是,知道空气明显高于大峡谷,即使你从未访问过大峡谷。
Although estimates of environmental benefits are not precise, they can still be revealing. For example, a study by the Environmental Protection Agency looked at the costs and benefits of the Clean Air Act from 1970 to 1990. It found that total costs over that time period were roughly $500 billion—a huge amount. However, it also found that a middle-range estimate of the health and other benefits from cleaner air was $22 trillion—about 44 times higher than the costs. A more recent study by the EPA estimated that the environmental benefits to Americans from the Clean Air Act will exceed their costs by a margin of four to one. The EPA estimated that “in 2010 the benefits of Clean Air Act programs will total about $110 billion. This estimate represents the value of avoiding increases in illness and premature death which would have prevailed.” Saying that overall benefits of environmental regulation have exceeded costs in the past, however, is very different from saying that every environmental regulation makes sense. For example, studies suggest that when breaking down emission reductions by type of contaminants, the benefits of air pollution control outweigh the costs primarily for particulates and lead, but when looking at other air pollutants, the costs of reducing them may be comparable to or greater than the benefits. Just because some environmental regulations have had benefits much higher than costs does not prove that every individual regulation is a sensible idea.
::尽管对环境惠益的估计并不准确,但这种估计仍然可以揭示出来。例如,环境保护署的一项研究审视了1970年至1990年《清洁空气法》的成本和效益。研究发现,这一时期的总成本约为5,000亿美元,这是一个巨大的数额。然而,研究还发现,对清洁空气的健康惠益和其他惠益的中期估算为22万亿美元,比成本高出约44倍。美国环保局最近的一项研究估计,《清洁空气法》给美国人带来的环境惠益将比其成本高出四比一的幅度。美国环保局估计,“2010年清洁空气法方案的惠益总额约为1100亿美元。这一估算表明,避免疾病增加和过早死亡的价值将会占上风。然而,该估算还发现,环境监管的总体惠益在过去已超过成本,但与说每项环境监管都有意义。例如,研究表明,在按污染物类型打破排放减少量时,空气污染控制的好处将超过主要颗粒物和铅的成本,但当研究其他空气污染物时,降低这些惠益的成本可能比各项条例都高,因为环境监管所证明的效益可能比每项成本都要高。Ecotourism: Making Environmentalism Pay
::生态旅游:使环境主义付出代价The definition of ecotourism is a little vague. Does it mean sleeping on the ground, eating roots, and getting close to wild animals? Does it mean flying in a helicopter to shoot anesthetic darts at African wildlife? Or a little of both? The definition may be fuzzy, but tourists who hope to appreciate the ecology of their destination—“eco tourists”—are the impetus to a big and growing business. The International Ecotourism Society estimates that international tourists interested in seeing nature or wildlife will take 1.56 billion trips by 2020.
::生态旅游的定义有点模糊。 这是否意味着睡在地上、吃根和接近野生动物? 这是否意味着坐直升机在非洲野生动物中射杀麻醉飞镖? 或者两者都有一点? 定义可能模糊不清,但希望欣赏目的地生态的游客 — — “生态观光者” — — 是大生意的推动力。 据国际生态旅游协会估计,到2020年,有兴趣观赏自然或野生动物的国际游客将进行15.6亿次旅行。Realizing the attraction of ecotourism, the residents of low-income countries may come to see that preserving wildlife habitats is more lucrative than, say, cutting down forests or grazing livestock to survive. In South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, for example, a substantial expansion of both rhinoceros and elephant populations is broadly credited to ecotourism, which has given local communities an economic interest in protecting them. Some of the leading ecotourism destinations include: Costa Rica and Panama in Central America; the Caribbean; Malaysia, and other South Pacific destinations; New Zealand; the Serengeti in Tanzania; the Amazon rain forests; and the Galapagos Islands. In many of these countries and regions, governments have enacted policies whereby revenues from ecotourism are shared with local communities, to give people in those local communities a kind of property right that encourages them to conserve their local environment.
::认识到生态旅游的吸引力,低收入国家的居民可能会发现,保护野生生物生境比砍伐森林或放牧牲畜生存更有利可图。 例如,在南非、纳米比亚和津巴布韦,犀牛和大象大量增加被广泛归功于生态旅游,使当地社区对保护它们具有经济利益。一些主要的生态旅游目的地包括:中美洲的哥斯达黎加和巴拿马;加勒比;马来西亚和其他南太平洋目的地;新西兰;坦桑尼亚的塞伦盖蒂;坦桑尼亚的亚马逊雨林;加拉帕戈斯群岛。在许多这些国家和地区,政府颁布了与当地社区分享生态旅游收入的政策,给予当地社区某种财产权,鼓励他们保护当地环境。Ecotourism needs careful management, so that the combination of eager tourists and local entrepreneurs does not destroy what the visitors are coming to see. But whatever one’s qualms are about certain kinds of ecotourism—such as the occasional practice of rich tourists shooting elderly lions with high-powered rifles—it is worth remembering that the alternative is often that low-income people in poor countries will damage their local environment in their effort to survive.
::生态旅游需要谨慎管理,这样,热心的游客和当地企业家的结合不会破坏游客正在看到的景象。 但不管人们对于某种生态旅游有什么顾虑 — — 比如富人游客偶尔用高功率步枪射杀老年狮子的做法 — — 值得记住的是,其他选择往往是穷国的低收入者在努力生存的过程中会破坏当地环境。Visit The International Ecotourism Society’s to learn more about The International Ecotourism Society, its programs, and tourism’s role in sustainable community development.h
::访问国际生态旅游协会以了解更多有关国际生态旅游协会、其方案以及旅游业在可持续社区发展中的作用。Introduction to Positive Externalities and Public Goods
::介绍积极的外部因素和公益物Can you imagine a world in which you did not own a cellular phone or use Wikipedia? New technology changes how people live and work and what they buy. Technology includes the invention of new products, new ways of producing goods and services, and even new ways of managing a company more efficiently. Research and development of technology is the difference between horses and automobiles, between candles and electric lights, between fetching water in buckets and indoor plumbing, and between infection and good health from antibiotics.
::你能想象一个你没有拥有移动电话或使用维基百科的世界吗? 新技术改变了人们的生活和工作方式以及他们购买什么。 技术包括发明新产品、生产商品和服务的新方式,甚至更高效地管理公司的新方式。 技术的研发是马和汽车、蜡烛和电灯、水桶和室内管道取水、以及抗生素感染和健康之间的差别。In December 2009, ABC News compiled a list of some of the technological breakthroughs that have revolutionized consumer products in the past 10 years:
::2009年12月,ABC News编辑了过去十年中使消费品革命化的一些技术突破清单:-
GPS tracking devices, originally developed by the defense department and available to consumers in 2000, give users up-to-date information on location and time through satellite technology.
::GPS跟踪装置最初由国防部开发,2000年可供消费者使用,通过卫星技术向用户提供关于位置和时间的最新信息。 -
In 2000, Toyota introduced the Prius hybrid car, which greatly improved fuel efficiency.
::2000年丰田推出了普里乌斯混合汽车,大大提高了燃料效率。 -
Also in 2000, AT&T offered its customers the ability to text on a mobile phone.
::也是在2000年,AT&T向客户提供了在移动电话上发短信的能力。 -
In 2001, Wikipedia launched a user-generated encyclopedia on the Web.
::2001年,维基百科在网上推出了用户生成的百科全书。 -
Even though Napster died in 2001, the company launched music downloading and file sharing, which revolutionized how consumers get their music and videos.
::尽管Napster公司于2001年死亡, 该公司发起音乐下载与文件共享, -
Friendster kicked off the social networking business in 2003, and Twitter and Facebook followed.
::Friendter在2003年启动了社交网络业务, Twitter 和Facebook 紧随其后。 -
In 2003, the Human Genome project was completed. It helps to fight disease and launch new pharmaceutical innovations.
::2003年,人类基因组项目完成,有助于防治疾病和发起新的制药创新。 -
Also in 2003, the search engine became a way of life for obtaining information quickly. The search engine companies also became innovators in the digital software that dominates mobile devices.
::也是在2003年,搜索引擎成为快速获取信息的一种生活方式,搜索引擎公司也成为主导移动设备的数字软件的创新者。 -
In 2006, Nintendo launched Wii and changed the way video games are played. Players can now be drawn into the action and use their bodies to respond rather than a handheld device.
::2006年,任天堂发射了Wii,改变了游戏游戏的玩法。 现在,玩家可以被吸引到游戏中,并用身体回应,而不是手持设备。 -
Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 and launched an entire smartphone industry
::苹果于2007年推出iPhoneiPhone,
The Benefits of Voyager I Live On
::《旅行者我生活的好处》In 1977 the United States launched Voyager I, a spacecraft originally intended to reach Jupiter and Saturn, to send back photographs and other cosmic measurements. Voyager I, however, kept going, and going—past Jupiter and Saturn—right out of our solar system. At the time of its launch, Voyager had some of the most sophisticated computing processing power NASA could engineer (8,000 instructions per second), but by the time it left the solar system (in 2012, actually) we Earthlings were using handheld devices that could process 14 billion instructions per second.
::1977年,美国发射了 " 旅行者一号 " (Voyager I)航天器,该航天器原本打算到达木星和土星,将照片和其他宇宙测量结果送还给人。 然而,旅行者一号继续运行,并直接从我们的太阳系出发。 在发射时,旅行者拥有美国航天局最尖端的计算机处理能力(每秒8,000个指令,每秒8,000个指令 ) , 但当它离开太阳系(2012年)时,我们地球人正在使用手持装置,可以每秒处理140亿个指令。Still, the technology of today is a spillover product of the incredible feats accomplished by NASA thirty years ago. NASA research, for instance, is responsible for the kidney dialysis and mammogram machines that we use today. Research in new technologies not only produces private benefits to the investment firm, or in this case to NASA, but it also creates benefits for the broader society. In this way, new knowledge often becomes what economists refer to as a public good. This leads us to the topic of this chapter—technology, positive externalities, public goods, and the role of government in the encouragement of innovation and the social benefits that it provides.
::然而,今天的技术仍然是美国航天局30年前所取得惊人成就的溢出产物。 比如,美国航天局的研究是我们今天使用的肾透析和乳房X光造影机的产物。 新技术的研究不仅给投资公司或美国航天局带来私人利益,而且给更广泛的社会带来好处。 这样,新知识往往成为经济学家所称的公益物。 这让我们想到本章的主题 — — 技术、积极的外在因素、公益物以及政府在鼓励创新和政府提供的社会效益方面的作用。The rapid growth of technology has increased our ability to access and process data, to navigate through a busy city, and to communicate with friends on the other side of the globe. The research and development efforts of citizens, scientists, firms, universities, and governments have truly revolutionized the modern economy. With all new technologies, however, there are new challenges. This chapter deals with some of these issues: Will private companies be willing to invest in new technology? In what ways does new technology have positive externalities? What motivates inventors? Does government have a role to play in encouraging research and technology? Are there certain types of goods that markets fail to provide efficiently, and that only government can produce? What happens when consumption or production of a product creates positive externalities? Why is it unsurprising when a common resource, like marine fisheries, is overused?
::技术的迅速发展提高了我们获取和处理数据、在繁忙的城市中航行和与地球另一边的朋友进行交流的能力。 公民、科学家、企业、大学和政府的研发努力确实使现代经济革命化了。 然而,所有新技术都带来了新的挑战。 本章涉及其中的一些问题:私营公司是否愿意投资于新技术? 新技术以什么方式产生积极的外在效应? 新技术有什么动力? 发明者? 政府是否在鼓励研究和技术方面发挥作用? 是否有某些种类的商品市场不能有效提供,只有政府才能生产? 当产品的消费或生产产生积极的外在效应时会发生什么情况? 当像海洋渔业这样的共同资源被过度使用时,它为什么并不令人惊讶?Why the Private Sector Underinvests in Innovation
::私营部门创新投资不足Market competition can provide an incentive for discovering new technology because a firm can earn higher profits by finding a way to produce products more cheaply or to create products with characteristics consumers want. As Gregory Lee, CEO of Samsung said, “Relentless pursuit of new innovation is the key principle of our business and enables consumers to discover a world of possibilities with technology.” An innovative firm knows that it will usually have a temporary edge over its competitors and thus an ability to earn above-normal profits before competitors can catch up.
::市场竞争可以为发现新技术提供激励,因为公司可以通过找到一种更廉价生产产品或创造消费者想要的具有特征的产品的方式来获取更高的利润。 正如三星首席执行官格雷戈里·李(Gregory Lee)所说 , “ 无情追求新创新是我们企业的关键原则,使消费者能够发现一个拥有技术可能性的世界。 ”一个创新公司知道,它通常会暂时超越竞争对手,从而能够在竞争者赶上之前赚取超常利润。In certain cases, however, competition can discourage new technology, especially when other firms can quickly copy a new idea. Consider a pharmaceutical firm deciding to develop a new drug. On average, it can cost $800 million and take more than a decade to discover a new drug, perform the necessary safety tests, and bring the drug to market. If the research and development (R&D) effort fails—and every R&D project has some chance of failure—then the firm will suffer losses and could even be driven out of business. If the project succeeds, then the firm’s competitors may figure out ways of adapting and copying the underlying idea, but without having to pay the costs themselves. As a result, the innovative company will bear the much higher costs of the R&D and will enjoy at best only a small, temporary advantage over the competition.
::然而,在某些情况下,竞争会抑制新技术,特别是当其他公司能够迅速复制新想法时。 考虑制药公司决定开发新药。 平均而言,它可以花费8亿美元,花费10多年时间发现新药,进行必要的安全测试,并将药物投放市场。 如果研发(R&D)努力失败 — — 而每个研发项目都有失败的几率 — — 那么公司就会遭受损失,甚至可能被迫退出业务。 如果项目成功,那么公司的竞争者可以找到调整和复制基本想法的方法,但不必自己支付成本。 结果,创新公司将承担研发成本的更高得多,并且最多只能享有比竞争小的暂时优势。Many inventors over the years have discovered that their inventions brought them less profit than they might have reasonably expected.
::多年来,许多发明家发现,他们的发明给他们带来的利润比他们合理预期的要少。-
Eli Whitney (1765–1825) invented the cotton gin, but then southern cotton planters built their own seed-separating devices with a few minor changes in Whitney’s design. When Whitney sued, he found that the courts in southern states would not uphold his patent rights.
::伊莱·惠特尼(1765-1825年)发明了棉花杜松子酒,但后来南方棉花种植者建立了自己的种子分离装置,对惠特尼的设计稍作改动。 当惠特尼起诉时,他发现南方各州的法院不会维护他的专利权。 -
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) still holds the record for most patents granted to an individual. His first invention was an automatic vote counter, and despite the social benefits, he could not find a government that wanted to buy it.
::托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison ((1847-1931) ) 仍然拥有授予个人的大部分专利的纪录。 他的第一个发明是自动投票计票,尽管有社会福利,但他找不到一个想要购买的政府。 -
Gordon Gould came up with the idea behind the laser in 1957. He put off applying for a patent and, by the time he did apply, other scientists had laser inventions of their own. A lengthy legal battle resulted, in which Gould spent $100,000 on lawyers, before he eventually received a patent for the laser in 1977. Compared to the enormous social benefits of the laser, Gould received relatively little financial reward.
::戈登·古尔德(Gordon Gould)在1957年提出了激光背后的想法。他推迟了专利申请,到申请时,其他科学家也有了自己的激光发明。 这场漫长的法律斗争的结果是,古尔德花费了10万美元聘请律师,然后他才在1977年最终获得激光专利。 与激光的巨大社会效益相比,古尔德得到的经济回报相对较少。
A variety of studies by economists have found that the original inventor receives one-third to one-half of the total economic benefits from innovations, while other businesses and new product users receive the rest.
::经济学家的各种研究发现,原发明者从创新获得的经济总收益的三分之一至一半,而其他企业和新产品使用者则得到其他收益。The Positive Externalities of New Technology
::新技术的积极外在因素Will private firms in a market economy under invest in research and technology? If a firm builds a factory or buys a piece of equipment, the firm receives all the economic benefits that result from the investments. However, when a firm invests in new technology, the private benefits, or profits, that the firm receives are only a portion of the overall social benefits. The social benefits of an innovation take into account the value of all the positive externalities of the new idea or product, whether enjoyed by other companies or society as a whole, as well as the private benefits received by the firm that developed the new technology. Positive externalities are beneficial spillovers to a third party, or parties.
::在研究和技术投资下,市场经济中的私营公司是否会在研究和技术方面投资?如果一家公司建造一家工厂或购买一件设备,公司就会从投资中获得所有经济利益;然而,当一家公司投资于新技术、私人利益或利润时,公司所得到的利润只是整体社会利益的一部分。创新的社会利益考虑到新思想或新产品的所有积极外差因素的价值,不论新思想或新产品为其他公司或整个社会所享受,以及开发新技术的公司所获得的私人利益。积极外差因素有利于第三方或第三方。Consider the example of the Big Drug Company, which is planning its R&D budget for the next year. Economists and scientists working for Big Drug have compiled a list of potential research and development projects and estimated rates of return. (The rate of return is the estimated payoff from the project.) 4 shows how the calculations work. The downward-sloping D Private curve represents the firm’s demand for financial capital and reflects the company’s willingness to borrow to finance research and development projects at various interest rates. Suppose that this firm’s investment in research and development creates a spillover benefit to other firms and households. After all, new innovations often spark other creative endeavors that society also values. If we add the spillover benefits society enjoys to the firm’s private demand for financial capital, we can draw D Social that lies above D Private .
::以大药公司为例,该公司正在规划下一年的研发预算。 经济学家和为大药公司工作的科学家们已经汇编了一份潜在研发项目和估计回报率的清单。 (回报率是项目的估计回报率 。 ) 4 显示了计算工作是如何运作的。 下行的DPurit曲线代表了该公司对金融资本的需求,反映了该公司愿意以各种利率借款为研发项目提供资金。 假设该公司在研发方面的投资为其他公司和家庭带来外溢效应。 毕竟,新的创新常常激发社会也珍视的其他创造性努力。 如果我们将溢出效应纳入公司私人对金融资本的需求,我们可以将DSocial吸引到DPrit公司之上。If there was a way for the firm to fully monopolize those social benefits by somehow making them unavailable to the rest of us, the firm’s private demand curve would be the same as society’s demand curve. According to 4 and 4, if the going rate of interest on borrowing is 8%, and the company can receive the private benefits of innovation only, then the company would finance $30 million. Society, at the same rate of 8%, would find it optimal to have $52 million of borrowing. Unless there is a way for the company to fully enjoy the total benefits, then it will borrow less than the socially optimal level of $52 million.
::如果公司有办法完全垄断这些社会福利,让其他人无法享受这些福利,那么公司的私人需求曲线就会与社会需求曲线相同。 根据4和4,如果借贷利率为8%,公司只能从创新中获得私人利益,那么公司就会为3000万美元融资。 以同样8%的利率,社会会发现拥有5200万美元的借款是最佳的。 除非有办法让公司能够充分享受全部利益,否则其借款将低于5200万美元的社会最佳水平。Positive Externalities and Technology
::积极的外部因素和技术Big Drug faces a cost of borrowing of 8%. If the firm receives only the private benefits of investing in R&D, then its demand curve for financial capital is shown by D Private , and the equilibrium will occur at $30 million. Because there are spillover benefits, society would find it optimal to have $52 million of investment. If the firm could keep the social benefits of its investment for itself, its demand curve for financial capital would be D Social and it would be willing to borrow $52 million.
::大药面临8%的借贷成本。 如果公司只从研发投资中获得私人利益,那么其金融资本需求曲线由DPriet(DPriet)显示,平衡将达到3000万美元。 由于存在外溢效应,社会会发现拥有5200万美元投资的最佳方式。 如果公司能够保持其投资的社会效益,其金融资本需求曲线将是DSocial(DSocial ) , 它愿意借5200万美元。Return and Demand for Capital
::资本回报和需求Rate of Return
::返回率D Private (in millions)
::私人(单位:百万)D Social (in millions)
::社会(百万)2%
$72
$84
4%
$52
$72
6%
$38
$62
8%
$30
$52
10%
$26
$44
Big Drug’s original demand for financial capital (D Private ) is based on the profits received by the firm. However, other pharmaceutical firms and health care companies may learn new lessons about how to treat certain medical conditions and are then able to create their own competing products. The social benefit of the drug takes into account the value of all the positive externalities of the drug. If Big Drug were able to gain this social return instead of other companies, its demand for financial capital would shift to the demand curve D Social , and it would be willing to borrow and invest $52 million. However, if Big Drug is receiving only 50 cents of each dollar of social benefits, the firm will not spend as much on creating new products. The amount it would be willing to spend would fall somewhere in between D Private and D Social .
::大药公司最初对金融资本(D Prietive)的需求以公司获得的利润为基础。 但是,其他制药公司和医疗保健公司可以学习如何治疗某些医疗条件的新经验,然后能够创造自己的竞争产品。 毒品的社会效益考虑到毒品所有积极外在因素的价值。 如果大药公司能够获得这种社会回报而不是其他公司,其金融资本需求将转向需求曲线D Social,它愿意借款和投资5200万美元。 但是,如果大药公司只获得每美元社会福利的50美分,它不会花那么多钱来创造新产品。 如果大药公司能够获得这种社会回报而不是其他公司,那么它愿意花费的金额将落在D Priorive公司和D Social公司之间。Why Invest in Human Capital?
::为什么投资人力资本?The investment in anything, whether it is the construction of a new power plant or research in a new cancer treatment, usually requires a certain upfront cost with an uncertain future benefit. The investment in education, or human capital, is no different. Over the span of many years, a student and her family invest significant amounts of time and money into that student’s education. The idea is that higher levels of educational attainment will eventually serve to increase the student’s future productivity and subsequent ability to earn. Once the numbers are crunched, does this investment pay off for the student?
::在任何方面投资,不管是建造新的发电厂还是研究新的癌症治疗,通常都需要一定的预付成本,未来利益不确定。 教育投资,还是人力资本投资,没有区别。 多年来,学生及其家庭为学生的教育投入了大量的时间和金钱。 高教育水平最终将有助于提高学生的未来生产力和随后的赚钱能力。 数字被挤压后,这种投资是否为学生带来回报?Almost universally, economists have found that the answer to this question is a clear “Yes.” For example, several studies of the return to education in the United States estimate that the rate of return to a college education is approximately 10%. Data in 5, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, Third Quarter 2013, demonstrate that median weekly earnings are higher for workers who have completed more education. While these rates of return will beat equivalent investments in Treasury bonds or savings accounts, the estimated returns to education go primarily to the individual worker, so these returns are private rates of return to education.
::几乎所有经济学家都发现这个问题的答案是明确的“是的 ” 。 比如,一些关于美国恢复教育的研究估计,接受大学教育的回报率约为10 % 。 美国劳动统计局2013年第三季度《工资和薪水工人每周正常收入》的5个数据表明,完成更多教育的工人每周收入中位数较高。 这些回报率将击败对国库债券或储蓄账户的等值投资,但教育回报率估计主要取决于个体工人,因此这些回报是私人教育回报率。Less than a High School Degree
::不到高中学位High School Degree, No College
::高中学位,无学院Bachelor’s Degree
::学士学位Median Weekly Earnings (full-time workers over the age of 25)
::每周收入中中位数(25岁以上全日制工人)$479
$659
$1,174
Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, Third Quarter 2013(Source:
::2013年第三季度《工资和薪金工人每周正常收入》(资料来源:2013年)。What does society gain from investing in the education of another student? After all, if the government is spending taxpayer dollars to subsidize public education, society should expect some kind of return on that spending. Again, economists like George Psacharopoulos have found that, across a variety of nations, the social rate of return on schooling is also positive. After all, positive externalities exist from investment in education. While not always easy to measure, according to Walter McMahon, the positive externalities to education typically include better health outcomes for the population, lower levels of crime, a cleaner environment and a more stable, democratic government. For these reasons, many nations have chosen to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize primary, secondary, and higher education. Education clearly benefits the person who receives it, but a society where most people have a good level of education provides positive externalities for all.
::归根结底,社会从投资于另一个学生的教育中获益何在? 归根结底,如果政府用纳税人的钱补贴公共教育,社会应该期望这种支出会有某种回报。 同样,乔治·普萨恰罗普洛斯这样的经济学家发现,在不同国家,上学的社会回报率也是积极的。 毕竟,教育投资中存在着积极的外部因素。 沃尔特·麦克马洪认为,教育的积极外差虽然并不总是容易衡量,但教育的积极外差因素通常包括人口的健康效果更好、犯罪率较低、环境更清洁和更稳定、更民主的政府。 出于这些原因,许多国家选择使用纳税人的钱补贴初等、中等和高等教育。 教育显然有利于接受教育的人,但大多数人拥有良好教育水平的社会为所有人提供了积极的外差因素。Other Examples of Positive Externalities
::积极外在因素的其他实例Although technology may be the most prominent example of a positive externality, it is not the only one. For example, being vaccinated against disease is not only a protection for the individual, but it has the positive spillover of protecting others who may become infected. When a number of homes in a neighborhood are modernized, updated, and restored, not only does it increase the value of those homes, but the value of other properties in the neighborhood may increase as well.
::尽管技术可能是积极的外部性最突出的例子,但它并不是唯一的例子。 比如,接种疾病疫苗不仅是对个人的保护,而且具有保护其他可能感染者的积极外溢效应。 当一个街区的一些住宅现代化、更新和修复时,它不仅增加了这些住宅的价值,而且该街区其他房产的价值也会增加。The appropriate public policy response to a positive externality, like a new technology, is to help the party creating the positive externality receive a greater share of the social benefits. In the case of vaccines, like flu shots, an effective policy might be to provide a subsidy to those who choose to get vaccinated.
::与新技术一样,对积极外部因素的适当公共政策反应是帮助创造积极外部因素的政党获得更大的社会利益份额。 在疫苗方面,比如流感疫苗,有效的政策可能是向选择接种疫苗的人提供补贴。6 shows the market for flu shots. The market demand curve D Market for flu shots reflects only the marginal private benefits (MPB) that the vaccinated individuals receive from the shots. Assuming that there are no spillover costs in the production of flu shots, the market supply curve is given by the marginal private cost (MPC) of producing the vaccinations.
::市场需求曲线DMarket用于流感注射的市场需求曲线DMarket仅反映了接种疫苗的个人从疫苗中获得的边缘私人利益(MPB),假设在生产流感疫苗方面没有溢出成本,则由生产疫苗的边际私人成本(MPC)给出市场供应曲线。The equilibrium quantity of flu shots produced in the market, where MPB is equal to MPC, is Q Market and the price of flu shots is P Market . However, spillover benefits exist in this market because others, those who chose not to purchase a flu shot, receive a positive externality in a reduced chance of contracting the flu. When we add the spillover benefits to the marginal private benefit of flu shots, the marginal social benefit (MSB) of flu shots is given by D Social . Because the MPB is greater than MSB, we see that the socially optimal level of flu shots is greater than the market quantity (Q Social exceeds Q Market ) and the corresponding price of flu shots, if the market were to produce Q Social , would be at P Social . Unfortunately, the marketplace does not recognize the positive externality and flu shots will go under produced and under consumed.
::在MPB与MPC等同的市场上生产的流感针片的均衡数量是QMarket, 流感针片的价格是Pmarket。然而,在市场上存在溢出效应,因为其他人,那些选择不购买流感枪片的人,在感染流感的机会减少的情况下,获得了积极的外部效应。当我们把溢出效应加到流感枪片的边缘私人利益之外,DSocial提供了流感枪片的边际社会福利(MSB)。由于MPB大于MSB,我们发现,社会最佳水平的流感射击高于市场数量(Q社会超过Qmarket),而相应的流感枪片价格,如果市场生产“社会”的话,将在PSocial上出现。 不幸的是,市场不承认积极的外部效应,而流感枪声的产量和消耗量将会下降。So how can government try to move the market level of output closer to the socially desirable level of output? One policy would be to provide a subsidy, like a voucher, to any citizen who wishes to get vaccinated. This voucher would act as “income” that could be used to purchase only a flu shot and, if the voucher was exactly equal to the per-unit spillover benefits, would increase market equilibrium to a quantity of Q Social and a price of P Social where MSB equals MSC. Suppliers of the flu shots would receive payment of P Social per vaccination, while consumers of flu shots would redeem the voucher and only pay a price of P Subsidy . When the government uses a subsidy in this way, the socially optimal quantity of vaccinations is produced.
::因此,政府怎样才能试图将市场产出水平提高到社会理想的产出水平? 一种政策是向任何希望接种疫苗的公民提供补贴,比如优惠券。 这种优惠券将起到“收入”作用,仅用于购买流感疫苗,如果优惠券与单位溢出效应完全相等,则会将市场平衡提高到一定数量的社会与社会价格(MSB等于MSC ) 。 发放流感疫苗的供应商将获得每支疫苗的PSU,而流感疫苗的消费者将赎回这些优惠券,只支付PSubsidy的价格。 当政府以这种方式使用补贴时,就会生产出社会上最佳的疫苗接种量。The Market for Flu Shots with Spillover Benefits (A Positive Externality)
::具有溢流效应的流感射击市场(积极的外部性)The market demand curve does not reflect the positive externality of flu vaccinations, so only Q Market will be exchanged. This outcome is inefficient because the marginal social benefit exceeds the marginal social cost. If the government provides a subsidy to consumers of flu shots, equal to the marginal social benefit minus the marginal private benefit, the level of vaccinations can increase to the socially optimal quantity of Q Social .
::市场需求曲线并不反映流感疫苗接种的积极外在性,因此只有QMarket才会被交换。 这一结果效率低下,因为边际社会福利超过了边际社会成本。 如果政府向流感消费者提供补贴,相当于边际社会福利减去边际私人福利,那么疫苗接种水平可以提高到社会最佳社会水平。Economic production can cause environmental damage. This tradeoff arises for all countries, whether high-income or low-income, and whether their economies are market-oriented or command-oriented.
::经济生产可造成环境损害,所有国家,无论是高收入国家还是低收入国家,无论经济是面向市场还是面向指挥,都会产生这种权衡。An externality occurs when an exchange between a buyer and seller has an impact on a third party who is not part of the exchange. An externality, which is sometimes also called a spillover, can have a negative or a positive impact on the third party. If those parties imposing a negative externality on others had to take the broader social cost of their behavior into account, they would have an incentive to reduce the production of whatever is causing the negative externality. In the case of a positive externality, the third party is obtaining benefits from the exchange between a buyer and a seller, but they are not paying for these benefits. If this is the case, then markets would tend to under-produce output because suppliers are not aware of the additional demand from others. If the parties that are generating benefits to others would be somehow compensated for these external benefits, they would have an incentive to increase production of whatever is causing the positive externality.
::当买方和卖方之间的交易对不属于交易所一部分的第三方产生影响时,就会出现外部效应,这种外部效应有时也被称为外溢效应,可能对第三方产生消极或积极的影响;如果对他人施加负面外部效应的当事人不得不考虑其行为带来的更广泛的社会成本,那么他们就会有动力减少造成负面外部效应的任何产品的生产;如果是积极的外部效应,第三方正在从买方和卖方之间的交易中获得利益,但是他们并没有支付这些利益;如果是这样,那么市场往往会低估产出,因为供应商不知道其他人的额外需求;如果给其他人带来好处的当事人会因这些外部效益而得到某种补偿,那么他们就会有动力增加造成积极外部效应的任何产品的生产。Command-and-control regulation sets specific limits for pollution emissions and/or specific pollution-control technologies that must be used. Although such regulations have helped to protect the environment, they have three shortcomings: they provide no incentive for going beyond the limits they set; they offer limited flexibility on where and how to reduce pollution; and they often have politically-motivated loopholes.
::控制控制条例为必须使用的污染排放和(或)特定污染控制技术规定了具体限制,虽然这些条例有助于保护环境,但有三个缺点:这些条例不鼓励超出规定的限度;在减少污染的地点和方式方面灵活性有限;往往有政治原因的漏洞。Examples of market-oriented environmental policies include pollution charges, marketable permits, and better-defined property rights. Market-oriented environmental policies include taxes, markets, and property rights so that those who impose negative externalities must face the social cost.
::面向市场的环境政策的例子包括污染收费、可销售许可证和定义更明确的产权。 面向市场的环境政策包括税收、市场和产权,以便那些实施负面外部因素的人必须面对社会成本。Competition creates pressure to innovate. However, if new inventions can be easily copied, then the original inventor loses the incentive to invest further in research and development. New technology often has positive externalities; that is, there are often spillovers from the invention of new technology that benefit firms other than the innovator. The social benefit of an invention, once these spillovers are taken into account, typically exceeds the private benefit to the inventor. If inventors could receive a greater share of the broader social benefits for their work, they would have a greater incentive to seek out new inventions.
::然而,如果新的发明可以很容易地复制,那么原发明者就会失去进一步投资于研发的动力。 新技术往往具有积极的外在效应;也就是说,新技术的发明往往产生外溢效应,使创新者以外的企业受益。 一旦考虑到这些外溢效应,发明的社会效益通常会超过发明者的私人利益。 如果发明者能够从更广泛的社会收益中获得更大的工作收益,他们就会有更大的动力去寻找新的发明。Answer the self check questions below to monitor your understanding of the concepts in this section.
::回答下面的自我核对问题,以监测你对本节概念的理解。Self Check Questions
::自查问题1. What is market failure?
::1. 什么是市场失灵?2. Define and explain inadequate competition. Inadequate information is listed as a problem that leads to market failure, however, can we really have too little information? Explain your point of view.
::2. 界定和解释竞争不足:信息不足被列为导致市场失灵的问题,然而,我们能否真正得到的信息太少?解释你的观点。3. Land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurs are the four factors of production. What will happen if those factors are immobile? Explain the economic consequences of immobile resources.
::3. 土地、劳动力、资本和企业家是生产的四个因素:如果这些因素不流动,会发生什么情况?解释不流动资源的经济后果。4. What are externalities? Explain both the positive and negative externalities that may occur if a city were to bring in a "minor league baseball team."
::4. 外在因素是什么?解释如果一个城市要带入一个“小联盟棒球队”,则可能发生的正外在因素和负外在因素。5. What is a public good? Give examples of public goods here in El Paso.
::5. 什么是公益物?请举例说明埃尔帕索的公益物。 -
inadequate competition among producers,
