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Market Failure and Government Intervention

Private, external and social benefits

  • 3 things to know
  • Papers 1 and 3

Overview

Private, external and social benefits and calculating social benefit, the external benefits of training and solar panels, marginal social benefit against marginal private benefit, why goods with external benefits are under-consumed, merit goods, under-investment in research and development, and positive externalities.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Define a positive externality and show how it enters the calculation of social benefit.

Key term

State the relationship between private benefit, external benefit and social benefit.

Key term

Vaccination gives an individual a private benefit valued at £120 and an external benefit valued at £90. State the social benefit.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define private benefit.

    Model answer

    A private benefit is the gain enjoyed by the individual or firm carrying out an activity, such as the satisfaction a consumer gets from a purchase.

  2. 2

    Define external benefit.

    Model answer

    An external benefit is a gain enjoyed by a third party who takes no part in the transaction and does not pay for it.

  3. 3

    State the relationship between private benefit, external benefit and social benefit.

    Model answer

    Social benefit equals private benefit plus external benefit.

  4. 4

    Vaccination gives an individual a private benefit valued at £120 and an external benefit valued at £90. State the social benefit.

    Model answer

    The social benefit is £210.

  5. 5

    Give two external benefits created when a firm trains its workforce.

    Model answer

    Other employers gain skilled staff when trained workers move on, and higher productivity raises output and tax revenue across the whole economy.

  6. 6

    Explain the external benefit of a household installing solar panels.

    Model answer

    Everyone gains from the lower emissions, and the growing market for the technology lowers its cost for future buyers.

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