Government Intervention

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  • Government Intervention
    • Subsidies
      • Government support, typically financial provided to producers and occasionally consumers
      • Adv
        • Can support firms until they reach economies of scale
        • Helps change preferences
        • subsidy can cover the cost of the externality
      • Disadv
        • Opportunity cost, the govt revenue could be spent elsewhere
        • Producers rely on the subsidy
        • producer may be less efficient
        • difficult to put a monetary value on the externality
    • Price Controls
      • Price Min
        • Minimum price to give firms a guaranteed price
        • Adv
          • Guaranteed income for firms
          • Stockpiles can be used up
        • Disadv
          • Excess supply
            • Destroying excess is a waste of resources
          • inefficient allocation of resources
      • Price Max
        • Maximum price to ensure all consumers can afford the good
        • Adv
          • Increases fairness, more people are able to buy the good
          • Prevents monopolies from exploiting their power
        • Disadv
          • Excess demand creates a black market
          • Firms lose potential profit
    • Taxation
      • Placed on producers causing supply to shift left
      • Incentive to stop consumption or production
      • Advantages
        • internalises cost of externality
        • govt can use revenue to offset market failure e.g. fund healthcare to correct externalities from smoking
        • Deterrent for firms to produce
      • Disadv
        • Difficult to put monetary value on externality
        • firms may relocate abroad to avoid tax
        • reduces international competitiveness
        • if demand is inelastic the taxation may not be an effective deterrent
    • Privatisation
      • Moving from the public to private sector
      • Adv
        • Reduction in govt spending and resources
        • encourages efficiency as firms aim to generate profit
        • increases international competitiveness
      • Disadv
        • Risks a private monopoly
          • Regulation to stop private monopolies will have a cost to be enforced
        • less focus on quality as firms wish to cut costs
        • More expensive for the consumers
    • Nationalisation
      • Moving from the private to public sector
      • Adv
        • Achieve economies of scale
        • Easily regulated
        • Better catered to the country's needs
        • Quality is increased as the govt isnt focused on profits
        • Public sector workers are paid a fair wage
      • Disadv
        • Reduces competitiveness
        • inefficient
        • increases govt expenditure
    • Regulation
      • Rules enforced by authority
      • Adv
        • Reduces use of demerit goods
        • Environmental Protection
        • Reduces power of monopolies
      • Disadv
        • Monitoring is expensive for govt
        • may not be a deterrent if the punishment isn't harsh
        • Could cause firms to relocate abroad
        • No effective if regulation is only in one country
    • State Provision
      • When the government supplies goods and services such as education healthcare and housing
      • Adv
        • All of society can benefit
        • Reduce inequality
        • redistribute income
      • Disadv
        • Lowers the incentive to work
        • Opportunity cost, govt could spend the money elsewhere
    • Pollution Caps
      • Govt set optimal level and allocate permits allowing firms to emit certain amount of pollution over period of time
      • Permits can be traded
      • Firms are fined if they exceed the allowance
      • Number of allowances is reduced each year
      • Adv
        • Incentive to cut emissions and become more efficient
        • Internalises cost of pollution
        • Low polluting firms can gain extra revenue by selling permits
        • Revenue collected by govt can be used in other pollution reducing schemes
      • Disadv
        • Hard to put a monetary value on externality
        • The fine may not be a big enough deterrent

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