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Microeconomics: The Role of Markets

Merit and demerit good diagrams and correcting information failure

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 01

Overview

Recall questions on merit and demerit good diagrams under information failure, welfare loss, policies to raise or reduce consumption, and the limits of correcting information failure.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

Describe the curves in a diagram of a demerit good affected by information failure.

Key term

Why may taxing a demerit good be less effective than expected?

Key term

Which two policies can reduce consumption of a demerit good?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    In a merit good diagram, where does the perceived benefit curve sit relative to true social benefit, and what does that do to output?

    Model answer

    The perceived private benefit curve lies below the true marginal social benefit curve, so the market settles where perceived benefit meets supply, at an output below the optimum where social benefit meets social cost.

  2. 2

    Describe the curves in a diagram of a demerit good affected by information failure.

    Model answer

    The perceived private benefit curve lies above the true marginal social benefit curve, so the market output exceeds the optimum where marginal social benefit equals marginal social cost.

  3. 3

    What does the vertical gap between the two benefit curves represent in an information failure diagram?

    Model answer

    It represents the amount by which consumers misjudge the true value of the good at each level of consumption.

  4. 4

    Where is the welfare loss on a merit good diagram?

    Model answer

    In the triangle between the true marginal social benefit curve and the supply curve, over the units between the market output and the higher socially optimum output.

  5. 5

    Why does information provision shift a curve rather than cause a movement along it?

    Model answer

    Better information changes how consumers value the good, moving the perceived benefit curve towards the true social benefit curve rather than altering the price they face.

  6. 6

    Which two policies can raise consumption of a merit good?

    Model answer

    Subsidising the good or supplying it free at the point of use, and running public information campaigns about its benefits.

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An of demand.
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AAt 0% nothing is levied at all.
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