http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/12/01/8394996/index.htm?postversion=2007030120
Mr Welker,
Could this article be dealing with positive externalities, as the farmers have increased productivity, and could we argue that the solar power is a merit-good, as it is undersupplied in the market?
1 comment:
Marco,
I have looked more closely at your article. It's not really about externalities, after all. The rose pickers actually bought the headlamps, so there's no spillover benefit here. That's not to say this article is not a good one for a commentary, it's just not about market failure. There are possibilities in other areas of the syllabus, though, such as the increasing cost nature of the solar industry because of the growing demand for materials in Europe. You could mention that since solar energy has benefits for society beyond the immediate users (i.e. no greenhouse gas emissions) that it is therefore a merit good and should be subsidized by governments... so in that regard, perhaps this is a market failure article. either way, there's a lot you can do with this, so get to work and put some more up on your blog for me to read!
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