Bobby Newport would rather play Wii bowling because the guy looks like him instead of playing on his actual bowling lane right next to his Wii. While this is an uncommon view, his preferences ought to be respected since he’s trying to maximize his utility function.
See more: preferences, substitutes, utility, utility maximization
The Newport campaign manager discusses how she’s smarter and faster than Leslie’s campaign team. She does a great job of showing the different between a normative statement and a positive statement “that is not a judgement, that is a fact.”
See more: normative statements, positive statements
Ben and Leslie propose a solution to solving the budget crises, but accidentally suggest that all D1 employees (low-level) should be terminated. Because there is a limited amount of funds available in the city budget, any money moving to one department must come at the expense of another department.
See more: federal budget, government spending, opportunity costs, rationing, scarcity, tradeoffs, unintended consequences
Leslie asks a city councilor to not cut the Parks budget 8% and to find the money somewhere else. The counselor decides to propose shutting down the local animal shelter in exchange. Because funding is scarce in the local government, the city councilors have to cut funding in one area to save another department.
See more: budgets, federal budget, government spending, opportunity costs, rationing, scarcity, tradeoffs, unintended consequences
Ben and Leslie are trying to outsmart the new Newport campaign manager, but they aren’t sure if she’s giving them good advice or purposely bad advice. Having complete information means that everyone knows that everyone knows, but Ben and Leslie are feeling a bit lost.
See more: behavioral, full information, game theory, optimal behavior, second mover advantage
Leslie and Ben are holding a town forum for Indiana’s Smallest Park, but a town citizen brings up that she’s concerned about whether basketball will be played at this park because it brings undesirables to the park. Leslie then demonstrates all the possible problems that could come from this park, including grilling and fireworks.
See more: club goods, common resources, externalities, public goods, types of goods
The pollution from the local factory creates a beautiful sunset, but it also gives people asthma. Ben and Leslie debate whether the beauty of the sunset is worth the tradeoff. Reducing pollution to zero would be extremely expensive, so it’s important to find some optimal level of pollution.
See more: externalities, negative externalities, positive externalities, private benefits, private costs, social benefits, social costs, social incentives, tradeoffs
Ben and Chris come into town from Indianapolis to help cut the town’s budget because of their pending financial situation. Ben suggests firing Leslie to relieve some of the spending associated with the inflated budget, but Ron describes how valuable Leslie is to the department and how she’s worth her salary. He basically argues that her marginal productivity vastly exceeds her salary despite making the second largest salary in the department.
See more: derived demand, government shutdown, government spending, marginal product, marginal revenue product, total wage bill, types of income, value
Pawnee is going through a budget crisis so Leslie and Ron propose a list of budget cuts that they believe will help keep the Parks Department operation. Chris and Ben break the news that the city’s budget is worse than imagined and the government will need to shut down despite their efforts to keep it operating.
See more: bargaining, government shutdown, government spending, tradeoffs
Economics of Parks & Recreation 