Group items tagged

This article considers what governments should 'spend their money on'. Apparently, economists seem to have the answer to that question: lighthouses and autopsies; public goods that "we all need, that will make our lives better, but that the market will not and cannot provide". Other public goods that the society would benefit from when financially supported by the government are also mentioned in the article, examples of those are: court systems, the military, etc. The debate does not stop here however for another question arises: How MUCH should the government invest in each of the public goods that need to be provided?

In Jakarta, Indonesia, the Transportation Ministry plans to give yellow license plates to vehicles transporting public goods so they can receive subsidized fuel with hopes of making up for the positive externalities of consumption conferred by these public goods.

This article explains public goods and services with some real case examples. The article focuses on what is public goods rather than real case example

The article raises an interesting point regarding the use of public good expenditure as a stimulant for the economy and job creation - thus creating an overall positive benefit for society. It also discusses expenditure conflicts between provision of different types of infrastructure e.g. roads or highways as transportation infrastructure. Ultimately, it states that the US should spend more on public goods oriented around job creation to benefit the economy.

The tragic landslides in Brazil highlight the importance of public goods. Although, it certainly was a natural disaster the government has been criticised for not alerting people to the dangers. It was well known that this mountain in this area has a lot of rocky ground, which is impervious to water. Furthermore, rapid population growth causing the building of new housing did not improve the situation. The government failed to provide basic public goods, such as monitored flood control, efficient public drainage. "The Science and Technology Minister, Aloizio Mercadante, said five million people lived in some 800 areas considered at risk of mudslides and floods. He said it would take at least four years for a nationwide alert system to be in place."

More than 13,000 people have lost or abandoned their homes because of the disaster, government has already responded to this disaster by sending extra troops, ambulances , helicopters, first aid, food, water etc. this expenditure will be covered by tax payers money, if disaster was bigger i think government wouldn't have been able to help their people, the vivid example was the earthquake in Haiti,

This is an article regarding the current situation in Uganda regarding their governments economics and refers to what they are attempting to do with public goods several times. It is somewhat on a commentary of the structure of the the economy of Uganda.

This article is about cigarettes and plastic bags being a public good and their consequences. There are issues in different countries with these goods and the author talks about what people do against that.

An article talking about the fiscal details of a lighthouse, which is a public good.

As the recession crawls on we see the reduction of many public goods. In this NY times article we hear about the cuts to military spending in the USA. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to cut 78 BIllion dollars of the military budget in five years.

This article touches on how there has been a recent escalation in military pursuits in Afghanistan. This is an example of a public good because the military is non-exclusive, as everybody is subject to the benefits (and side effects) to the actions the military is taking.

The article talks about the state of Tehran's atmosphere which has turned into a thick brown haze of smog. The inadequacy of public transportation in the city along with government policy promoting automobile usage for its booming car industry has created an atmosphere which has led to the bastardization of its air and the consequent deaths of its citizens. The article is related with this week's topic in the sense that in case of market failure (overproduction of cars) an adequate government response is required to stabilize the situation - which was not the case for Ahmadinejad's Tehran.

this article talks about that in order to keep Galileo alive, EU member-states had to agree to fund the entire project from the public purse.

This article considers the possible measures that the Maldives should consider in order to develop its not yet fully matured economy. Today, government intervention to reduce or diminish market failure takes many forms: direct controls, government regulation, government subsidies, taxation of negative externality engendering goods, etc. However, it has been strongly suggested that for a developing country such as the Maldives, "and given that there is no one perfect model of state involvement in the economy, effective and well managed Public Enterprises need to play a vital and integral role of the national economy." Further solutions for market failure in the Maldives are also discussed.

This article talks about the investment at public services and how it is going to bennefit the population.

This article talks about the recession going out in Spain and, more precisely, about the new challenges that the government is facing in order to reduce deficit and public debt, which by the way, has been downgraded by Moody's last week.

The UK started reducing government expenditure, easing its fiscal policy to compensate for debt: There are a couple of notable points raised by the BRC in the Outlook: one is their view of economic growth and the other is the number of job losses caused by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne's public spending cuts. The BRC state that they believe the UK economy will continue to recover but at a slower pace than after the recessions of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. They put this "sluggish outlook" down to "the gradual normalisation of credit conditions, efforts to reduce private sector indebtedness and the impact of the Government's fiscal consolidation."

Pension costs and health-care costs are increasing with the increased demand for pensions and health care.

The article quantifies the external costs of smoking in addition to the private costs imposed upon the smoker. It cites a cost of $150 for cleaning costs (for cars dirtied by ash), with up to $1000 for high-end models. Cleaning a house plagued by smoke is estimated to cost up to $2000. This does not include the costs associated with healthcare payments that need to be paid to employees as part of coverage plans. Furthermore, it is estimated that $96.7 billion is spent on private and public healthcare pertaining to smoker-related illnesses. These negative externalities are not accounted for in the price of a pack of cigarettes (the article states a price of $4-$5 for a single pack) and thus results in an allocative inefficiency - smoking is grossly overconsumed by society.

This is a great article. It covers no only the firsthand costs of smoking, but also the long term effects on costs.

This article discusses how G.E. will begin selling jet parts and technology with China which would result in a huge financial gain. The concerns are though that by releasing this technology to china they could produce the goods for cheaper and hurt the United States and that they could develop a stronger military aviation program which could hurt our own military.

Wikileaks might choose to relase the names of people and firms in posession of "black, unaccounted money". If it chooses to do so the CPI will use this money for pubblic goods. This would greatly benefit the economy from a pubblic point of view and would also probably prevent people from creating illegal bank accounts to evade taxes in the future.