Deck 19: Economic Development and the Environment

Question 1

The technology available for the separation,transportation,and reprocessing of recycled materials affect their costs and thus their ability to displace virgin materials in the production of total materials.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

When the social cost of waste disposal is not considered,consumption of a waste generating good will equal Q₂.
Consumption will equal Q₁ when the social costs are not considered.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

One potential problem with charging a fee per bag of waste is illegal dumping.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Under social cost pricing of the good,consumer will pay price P₁ to consume Q₂ units of a waste-generating good.

Question 5

The fact that ________ is an argument against requiring the government to compensate private parties for an environmental taking.

A)compensation based on the prospective value of the property in private hands could be hard to determine
B)governments would be more careful in designing environmental policies if they had to compensate for takings
C)the government would be reluctant to pass any environmental legislation,since it could often be interpreted as taking some private party's property rights
D)environmental takings amount to expropriation of an individual's land

Question 6

Although people generally receive no financial reward for their recycling efforts,it has become a widely accepted part of Canadian culture.

Question 7

List two ways that material intensity can be reduced and give an example of each.

Question 8

List the two ways that total materials can be reduced.

Question 9

A tax on virgin materials would lead firms to increase their recycling ratios.

Question 10

Consumers would increase their rate of recycling if there was a financial incentive for them to reduce the weight of the garbage they are allowed to dispose of every week.

Question 11

A waste disposal fee is one way to get consumers to recycle household waste at the socially efficient level.

Question 12

The ability of a municipality to send solid waste to a landfill is affected by the scarcity of sites willing to accept these wastes.

Question 13

________ content standards require that all materials-using products manufactured or sold contain some specified percentage of ________.

A)Maximum;recycled material
B)Minimum;recycled material
C)Maximum;virgin material
D)Minimum;virgin material

Question 14

Under social cost pricing,producers receive price P₁.
Producers will receive price P₃.

Question 15

When the Nature Conservancy preserves sensitive land by purchasing it this is an example of an environmental taking.

Question 16

Taxing production is one way to get firms to produce the socially efficient level of a waste-generating good.

Question 17

Define the reuse ratio and list three ways it can be increased.

Question 18

A per unit tax equal to P₁ - P₃ would result in firms producing the socially efficient level of a waste-generating good.

Question 19

When the social cost of waste disposal is not considered,production of a waste-generating good will equal Q₁.

Question 20

________ make up the largest percentage of all materials recycled in Canada at close to 29 percent.

A)Cardboard and boxboard
B)Newsprint
C)Organics
D)Glass

Question 21

Many contemporary land-use issues are related to the human use of land that substantially reduces or destroys its environmental value.List four examples of Canadian natural capital threatened by land-use changes.

Question 22

Give four examples of various solid waste reduction and recycling activities undertaken by Canadian provinces and municipalities.

Question 23

List three policy options that could be employed to incorporate ecological values into land use and give an example of each.

Question 24

List three recycling policy options and discuss their effectiveness.