Now that the Parks Department is temporarily shut down, Tom starts packing up his office items. With the pending layoff, Tom has the option of seeking out a temporary job or becoming an entrepreneur.
See more: entrepreneurship, government shutdown, job search, layoffs, temp jobs, tradeoffs, unemployment
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 bit of a budget crises and they have decided to cut the Parks Department budget so that no parks will be open over the summer break. This also means that a previously-planned concert needed to be canceled as well. The citizens of Pawnee want to know what services the government will provide if they are shut down. Ron relishes in the fact that the services aren’t provided.
See more: common resources, government shutdown, government spending, public resources, role of government, types of goods
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
Pawnee, Indiana is going through a budget crises and the city has decided to postpone all planning and spending decisions until the state auditors come by to review their budgets. While this terrifies Leslie, Ron is happy that state auditors are coming to slash the Pawnee budget because he feels government spending has gotten out of hand.
See more: government shutdown, government spending, role of government, social programs
Leslie needs programming for a local telethon and decides to flip a quarter on air. Leslie takes the distribution of the flips as being exciting since it’s unclear “who will win.” Luckily for statisticians, the results stay close to 50-50 throughout the broadcast.
See more: econometrics, probabilities, statistics
Ron and Leslie ponder why people would eat anything other than breakfast. While they understand their own utility functions, they struggle to understand others.
See more: intrinsic value, preference ranking, preferences, subjective value, utility, utility maximization
Ron invites Mark over to his workshop because he needs a license in order to continue selling products. Ron describes how he shouldn’t have to follow government regulations about toxic chemicals because he’s the only one breathing the fumes. If he isn’t bothering others then he doesn’t feel the need to be regulated.
See more: externalities, government regulation, licensing, private costs, regulation, safety regulations, social costs
A soccer field is double-booked by the Parks Department and Leslie has to work out a solution for who gets the field. Because the field is rivalrous, both can’t use the field at the same time. One team’s use implies that the other cannot use the field.
See more: bargaining, common resources, resource allocation, rivalry, scarcity, tradeoffs
Tom needs to move, but doesn’t have a truck. He enlists the help of Mark because he has a pickup truck and Andy/April because he needs labor. All agree to help even though Tom offers no compensation. Social norms often mean that friends help each other despite not being compensated.
See more: behavioral, fairness, gains from trade, irrationality, opportunity costs, social norms
Economics of Parks & Recreation 