Externalities of a Roommate

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.

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Undesirables in a Park

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.

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A Token Park

Ron believes that the government should be operated by private enterprise (like Chuck E. Cheese) that uses a token system to participate, like taking a walk, going down a slide, or seeing a duck. This would take a previously nonexclusive good and turn it into one that must be purchased to be consumed.

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Weed in a Community Garden

Leslie tries to turn a local pit into a community garden and allow citizens to plant whatever they chose in the garden. One citizen has taken advantage of the situation and decided to plant marijuana in the garden instead of vegetables or flowers.

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How should a government function?

Ron believes that governments are a waste of taxpayer money and should be run more like private (for-profit) companies. Later he suggests that parks could operate on a token system so that anyone wanting to use the park would need to pay for their use.

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Ron’s Idea of the Perfect Government

Ron believes in a very limited government and describes his idea of government as a single employee with the power to start war. This clip can be used to show the extremes of the what role a government should have.

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Negative Externalities of a Nearby Park

Ann and Leslie are trying to convince local residents that a park would be a good alternative to a giant pit located near their homes. The two of them go door-to-door framing their questions to garner public support, but one local resident doesn’t want a park built near her house because of all the potential negative externalities associated with them.

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Framing a Question

Ann and Leslie are trying to convince local residents that a park would be a good alternative to a giant pit located near their homes. The two of them realize they aren’t getting as many responses as they were hoping so Leslie decides to re-frame the question in the hopes of getting respondents to answer the way she would like them to.

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Ron Swanson on Capitalism

Ron and Leslie meet for lunch to settle a bet, but not before Ron extolls the virtues of capitalism and competition in the free market. Leslie, of course, disagrees on the role of government because she recognizes that not all services can be provided private enterprise.

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