A positive externality exists and government wants to apply a per-unit subsidy in order
to bring about an efficient outcome. Under what condition will the solution (the
subsidy) be worse than the problem (the market failure)?
a. Under the condition that the subsidy is greater than the marginal external benefit
(associated with the positive externality).
b. Under the condition that the post-subsidy output is not farther away from the efficient
level of output than the pre-subsidy output is from the efficient level of output.
c. Under the condition that the post-subsidy output is farther away from the efficient
level of output than the pre-subsidy output is from the efficient level of output.
d. Under the condition that the subsidy is less than the marginal external benefit
(associated with the positive externality).
e. none of the above
Refer to Exhibit 22-10. Professor Jones, who is encouraging the three students to work
together in order to be “more productive,” is implicitly assuming that by working
together they will be able to
Exhibit 22-10