Land on both sides of the border of Brazil and Venezuela has long been occupied by the Yanomamo people.These "fierce people" are the last Stone Age tribe left in South America.Following discovery of gold, approximately 45,000 garimpeiros (gold miners) invaded the Yanomamo territory.The mining process pollutes the rivers and scares away game, so traditional Yanomamo sources of food are almost impossible to find now.The Yanomamo are starving.Economists call this problem

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The invasion of gold miners is an example of an externality, which is a negative impact on a third party who did not choose to incur that cost. In this case, the Yanomamo people are suffering from the pollution and destruction of their environment caused by the gold miners, even though they did not choose to engage in gold mining themselves. This externality is causing harm to the Yanomamo people's ability to find traditional sources of food and is leading to starvation.

Land on Both Sides of the Border of Brazil and Venezuela