Category: Externalities

Categories
Externalities

Common Pool Donation

The employees are debating if it’s right to give $1,000 to a church so that a recently deceased co-worker can go to heaven. When the majority of employees agree that’s the best use of the money, Amy offers a collection so that everyone can chip in to help finance the project. Jonah chips in $5, but no one else is willing to add money to the bowl, and someone even takes the $5 out of the bowl. Like other public good problems, people are not willing to chip in to provide the services they all agree are important. There’s no incentive to contribute, so everyone becomes a free-rider.

Categories
Externalities

Cover Your Cough

Negative externalities occur when someone is imposing external costs on others, but not taking into account those costs when making their decision. In this brief scene, a patient in a clinic is shown coughing in front of a poster reminding people to cover their cough. When people are sick, the infection may be spread through the air, which means people choosing not to cover their coughs may be causing others to get sick.

Categories
Externalities

Tragedy of the Shrimp Buffet

Bo tells one of the guests at his wedding to stop eating all the shrimp because there will not be enough left for everyone else. Since the meal portion of the evening is a buffet, there’s an incentive to eat more than your share, but that leaves less shrimp available for other guests.

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Externalities

Bug Bombs

Dina wants Mateo to use his connection with the distract manager to get things fixed in the store, but Mateo doesn’t have that privilege. He decides to do the things himself, like fumigating the breakroom and changing parking lot lights, to make it appear as though he does have that privilege. While changing the lights, the ladder falls and breaks Glenn’s car window. While trying to fumigate the breakroom, he uses way too many cans and the fumes are poisoning his coworkers. The hazmat team ends up being called to correct the situation. Multiple people are injured or harmed because Mateo was too embarrassed to admit he doesn’t receive special privileges.

Categories
Externalities

Too Many Baby Photos

Cheyenne is showing her coworkers a bunch of baby pictures and videos, but Garrett is unhappy. He and Sandra both agree that there should be a social contract that you only have to look at one picture. The diminishing returns to looking at baby pictures kicks in very quickly when the kids aren’t your own. Cheyenne, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have started exhibiting diminishing returns.

Categories
Externalities

Annoying Roommates

Garrett and Jonah became roommates after a tornado destroyed Jonah’s apartment, but it turns out that their habits aren’t exactly conducive to being roommates. Garrett passively aggressively lets Jonah know that he’s messy when it comes to taking a shower so he buys Jonah a bathmat. In return, Jonah suggests that he get Garrett a pair of noise-canceling headphones since he’s so bothered by every noise Jonah makes. The two go back-and-forth listing the various ways they annoy each other.