Gas Price Externality

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When crude oil prices go up or down, gas prices tend to follow. And right now, gas prices are on the decline. When negative externalities exist, the free market will produce too much and sell it at a price that is too low to achieve allocative efficiency. Now, why should the gas prices go up? It's pretty clear that the American demand for gasoline outpaces our ability to supply it. And as a result, that's why every time something goes wrong the price of gasoline skyrockets. The goal is not necessarily to restructure the entire society. It's really just to try to get the price of gasoline more in line with the actual cost of gasoline which is why higher taxes are proposed. In the below graph (figure 1) shows the supply and demand curve of gasoline and at equilibrium we get the quantity what we want means Qs= Qd. Qs is called as profit maximizing quantity. Qd is called allocative efficient quantity.…show more content…
For example, the cost of pollution, congestion, and possible effects of global warming, etc. and as a result these costs are paid by the consumers not by suppliers. Therefore, ultimately the gasoline prices decline as shown in the below graph (figure 2). Negative externalities affects the supply curve as the costs is not paid by suppliers. Hence, the quantity is produced in a larger amount and it shifts the supply curve to the right of MSC curve which gives new quantity of gasoline at a new low price. The quantity is more than what the consumers want due to over allocation of resources (shown in the graph as

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