The Parks Department is hosting a BBQ in the local park. Ron decides to bring a pig to the park because he wants people to see their food before consuming it. He is not allowed to because it is against the law and violates health codes despite his beliefs that he should be allowed to as the Parks Department director.
See more: externalities, government regulation, negative externalities, regulation, social costs
Ben’s been offered a job with a local accounting firm, but he isn’t as excited about the commute or the carpeting in the office. Leslie recommends that if he isn’t in love with the idea of working there then he should take some time to consider other options. The non-pecuniary aspects of jobs are important in the decision to accept employment.
See more: compensating differentials, labor, non-pecuniary factors, opportunity costs, types of income, unemployment
Leslie wants to break up with Ben, but she needs to order a bottle of wine before she goes through with it. She let’s the waitress know that she wants wine, but isn’t coy about only selecting the cheapest one because she can’t tell the difference. There’s a long line of literature on the effects of quality and wine prices that shows even professionals can’t often tell the difference between brands.
See more: anchoring, behavioral, preferences, ranking, subjective value, utility maximization
Tom pranked Anne by putting glitter in her laundry detergent and she decides to return the favor by putting glitter in Tom’s moisturizer. She pitches it as a new product gimmick, but Tom supports the idea of this new product, “Sparkle Skin.”
See more: entrepreneurship, monopolistic competition, product differentiation
Ben is in DC working as a congressional intern and Leslie takes the opportunity to head to Washington, D.C. to ask for federal funding the clean up the Pawnee River, which is a bit of a “fixer-upper.” This rent seeking behavior is common when entities are seeking federal funding for items that will only benefit their areas.
See more: common resources, federal budget, government spending, overuse, rent seeking, tragedy of the commons
The Parks Department of Pawnee invites delegates from their sister city in Baraguá, Venezuela to attend a local townhall meeting. This particular townhall meeting includes complaints about various externalities associated with parks including frisbees and dog feces. The Baraguá delegate describes the command and control approach used by his country when citizens impose externalities on others.
See more: command and control, common resources, comparative systems, externalities, negative externalities, private benefits, public costs
Pawnee is hosting Baraguá, Venezuela as their sister city and Leslie warns the group to make sure they understand how poor Venezuela is. The Parks Department quickly finds out that the group is much more affluent than they previous considered.
See more: comparative systems, globalization, inequality, quality of life
Andy goes to the hospital for a broken nose, but it turns into a rant session for Ben. It turns out the roommate situation between Ben, April, and Andy hasn’t been ideal because Andy and April continue to use his things without his permission. Andy and Ben negotiate for ways to remedy the externality on their own. If property rights are well established (Ben does own his stuff!) then two parties can work out externalities without government intervention.
See more: bargaining, Coase Theorem, common resources, externalities, negative externalities, private costs, private goods, public goods, social benefits, social costs, transaction costs, types of goods
Entertainment 7Twenty is bankrupt, but Tom doesn’t understand how his company has gotten this far. Tom took the phrase “spend money to make money” a bit too literally and spent all of the money that was invested in the company, including a limousine with a hot tub in it. Unfortunately for Tom, the revenue didn’t follow.
See more: costs, input costs, profit, revenue, variable costs
Ben is getting a little tired of Pawnee, but he’s only two stamps away from his “free” meatball sub. Unfortunately, his card is expired. He’s a bit sad about it, but those stamps are essentially a sunk cost. The card itself is a good example of ways that firms price discriminate and offer discounts to bulk shoppers.
See more: free lunch,NSTAFL, opportunity costs, price discrimination, second degree price discrimination, sunk costs
Economics of Parks & Recreation 