Question

A local college is deciding whether to conduct a campus beautification initiative that would involve various projects, such as planting trees and remodeling buildings, to make the campus more aesthetically pleasing. For the students of the college, the visual appearance of the campus is _____________ and ___________. Thus, the visual appearance would be classified as a public good.
Suppose the college administrators estimate that the beautification initiative will cost $2,040. To decide whether the initiative should be undertaken, administrators conduct a survey of the college's 420 students, asking each of them their willingness-to-pay for the beautification project. The average willingness-to-pay, as revealed by the survey, is $12.

The benefit of the beatification initiative, as suggested by the survey, is $ __________ Because the estimated benefit is ____________ than the
cost, the college administrators ______________ undertake the beautification in initiative.

The calculation of the benefit of the beatification initiative relied on the ability of the administrators to accurately capture the true willingness-to-pay of each student.

Which of the following scenarios would cause the survey used by the college administrators to yield misleading willingness-to-pay data? Check all that apply.

a. Students believe that if the initiative does not happen, the funds for the initiative Will not be spent elsewhere.
b. An equal number of male and female students were surveyed.

Answer 1

Answer:

non rival, non excludable

$5040

greater

will

a. Students believe that if the initiative does not happen, the funds for the initiative Will not be spent elsewhere.

Explanation:

A public good is a good that is non excludable and non rivalrous.

Because a student is enjoying the visual appearance of the campus, another student is not prevented from enjoying the visual appearance of the campus. This means that the beautification initiative is non rivalrous

There is no way to prevent any student from viewing the initiative. This means it is non excludable

Benefit can be calculated using the willingness to pay of student

the price a student is willing to pay would be dependent on the amount of benefit she expects to derive from the project

benefit =  420 x $12 = $5040

The  beautification initiative generates a positive externality

A good  or initiative has positive externality if the benefits to third parties not involved in production is greater than the cost

Because the good  generates positive externality, the initiative should be carried out

If . Students believe that if the initiative does not happen, the funds for the initiative Will not be spent elsewhere, they would quote a lower willingess to pay