B.A.

(H) SECOND YEAR-ASSIGNMENT 2,2018

EXTERNALITIES,PUBLIC GOODS,WELFARE and GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM

I.WELFARE and GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM

1(a)In an ‘n’ commodity economy, Walras’ Law implies that (n-1) aggregate excess demand equations are independent.We also
know that homogeneity of degree zero (in prices) of any aggregate excess demand function entails (n-1) independent prices.Why
are these not sufficient for a competitive equilibrium to exist ?
(b)In the context of a competitive economy, the Brouwer’s fixed point theorem consists of a function which maps the price
simplex into the price simplex. What is this function called? Why must it be continuous? What are the assumptions which ensure
its continuity?

2.Aafreen (A) and Brinda (B) consume apples (x) and oranges (y).Determine/show
(a) the Pareto set if their utility functions and endowments are represented by :
uA = max [4xA,yA] , uB = xB + 2yB], wA= (5,5) and wB= (5,5). Further, let ‘B’ be a monopolist and ‘A’ a price taking agent. Find
the monopoly equilibrium allocation and the price ratio set by the monopolist.
(b) that Px =Py at the competitive equilibrium if their utility functions and endowments are:
uA= xAyA , uB = min [xB ,yB], the economy’s endowment : w = (10,10)
(c) the competitive equilibrium if their utility functions and endowments are represented by :
uA = [(xA)2 + (yA)2]1/2and uB =[(xB)2 + (yB)2]1/2 , wA= (5,5) and wB= (10,5). Is the competitive equilibrium allocation ‘fair’?
(d) the competitive equilibrium if their utility functions and endowments are represented by :
uA = (xA)2 + (yA) and uB = xB.yB , wA= (5,5) and wB= (10,5). What if uB = min [xB ,yB]?Does the First Welfare theorem hold in
these two cases?

3(a) When is an allocation vector (i) envy free (ii) fair ?

Let the initial allocation in an economy be symmetric. Prove that the competitive market mechanism, in this economy, would
always lead to a ‘fair’ allocation.
(b)Riyaz (A) and Yamini’s(B) utility functions are defined over apples (x) and oranges (y) and are represented by uA(xA,yA)
= xA+2yA1/2and uB(xB,yB) = xB + 4yB1/2.The total endowments of ‘x’ and ‘y’in the economy are(9,4).
(i)Find the equation of the UPF (Utility Possibility Frontier) in the (uA, uB) plane.
(ii)If the Social Welfare Function is represented by W=uA+uB ,find the social welfare maximising allocation. Repeat when
(a) uA =2(xA.yA)1/4, uB =( xB.yB)1/4 and (b) for an identical allocation for the 2 agents.
(c) Let a UPF be represented by uA1/2 +uB =100.If the SWF is ‘weighted Benthamite’, the welfare maximising allocation is
(uA ,uB) =( 2500,50).Find the explicit form of the SWF.

4.Consider a pure exchange economy consisting of three individuals (A, B and C) with identical endowments of apples (‘x’) and
oranges (‘y’) – each agent’s allocation vector is (8,9). Their utility functions are represented by uA(x, y) = xAyA , uB(x, y) = xB yB
and uC(x, y) = xC 1/2+ yC .Define a ‘fair’ allocation. Find a Pareto superior allocation to the endowments.Hence, show that these
endowments do not represent a ‘fair’ allocation. Further , can you find an allocation in the ‘core’ where A or C obtain zero units
of ‘x’?

EXTERNALITIES

5(a).Lavazza , a gourmet coffee manufacturer, roasts coffee in the basement of a building owned by it. Unroasted coffee beans
cost Rs.200/kg and the marginal cost of roasting each kilogram of coffee is 150 – 10q + q2 (in Rupee terms).Roasted coffee sells
at Rs.450 a kg. The smell of roasting , surprisingly, discomfits neighbours and they are willing to pay Rs 5 q2 totally (where ‘q’is
the total kilograms roasted).
What is the Pareto efficient quantity of coffee roasted? The answer illustrates a theorem – state it and contextualize it in this
problem.

(b)DDA plans to build an apartment complex next to Palam airport. Let ‘x’ represent the number of planes that land at Palam
every day and let ‘y’ be the number of apartments in the housing complex. The profits of the airport are 42x –x2 and that of
DDA are 42y–xy –y2.
(a)What would be the profit maximizing number of houses if DDA buys out Palam airport ?
(b) Let DDA and Palam airport operate as separate firms. What would be the profit maximizing number of houses made
-- if they operated as separate firms?
-- the government forces Palam to pay DDA an amount xy as ‘damages’?
7. Assume that a steel firm, S, produces steel, s, and slag, x at Haridwar. The steel is sold in the marketplace while the slag gets
dumped in the River Ganga. A fishery, F, located downstream at Allahabad is adversely affected by the slag released by the steel
firm.
Let the unit price of fish be pf and that of steel be ps. Further, suppose the steel firm's cost function is
cs(s; x) = αs2 – βx + γx2 ; (α,β,γ) > 0
while the fishery's cost function is cf (f; x) = δf2 + θx2 ; (δ,θ) > 0.

(a)Find the competitive profit maximizing quantities of steel ,fish and slag.
(b) If the 2 firms were to merge, what would be the quantities of steel ,fish and slag produced ?When would the Pareto efficient
quantity of slag be less than that produced in the competitive equilibrium (in this question)?
(c) Assume the government imposes a tax on the slag generated by the steel firm. Calculate the Pigouvian tax that the
government should impose so that the Pareto efficient quantity of slag is produced. Would it be the same as the price charged per
unit of slag by the fishery if the property rights to clean water were vested in it?

PUBLIC GOODS

8.Ardashir (A), Bashir (B) hve utility functions defined over apples (a private good, ‘x’) and a flyover ( a public good, ‘F’). The
utility function of an agent ‘i’ is defined by ui = 2 log xi + log F where F =FA + FB .Each agent has 100 apples as his endowment
and 1 apple can be transformed into 1 flyover.
(a)What are the Nash equilibrium values of FA and FB ?
(b)What is the Pareto optimal level of F (don’t use the Samuelson-Lindahl condition)? When would the Pareto optimal level of F
not depend on the number of apples?
--What would be the consumption of apples by each agent if they contribute equally towards the public good (F)?
-- Would it change if an agent had a larger endowment of apples to begin with?

9.Ardashir (A), Bashir (B) and Diana (D) have utility functions defined over chocolates (‘c’), a private good, and music (‘M’), a
public good. Their utility functions are defined by ui = ci.M , i= A,B and D. Chocolates (c) cost Re.1 each and music (M) costs
Rs.10 an hour. The wealth (in Rs.) of agents A,B and D is Rs.30,Rs.50 and Rs.20 respectively.
Set out the Lagrangian to calculate the Pareto optimal quantity of music consumed. Confirm your calculations by writing out the
Samuelson-Lindahl condtion for the Pareto optimal production of music (in this question).

10. In the case of discrete public goods, let the utility functions of the agents be defined by uA(xA,G) and uB(xB,G), where G can
take only 2 values ,0 or 1.Let ‘c’ be the cost of one unit of G and gA and gB be A’s and B’s contribution to the public good. If rA
and rB represent A’s and B’s reservation prices for G, derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the provision of G to be
Pareto improving. Would it still be Pareto superior to provide G if rA< gA ?

ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION

11. Municipal Ward no.6 in Ranchi has a mix of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ (morbid) people. A insurance company knows the
exact number of ‘healthy’ and ‘morbid’ patients in the ward but not each patient’s health history(‘type’).The data on the number
of healthy and unhealthy/morbid patients ,the ‘willingness to pay’ and the cost to the competitive insurance company are given in
the following table :

Number of Cost to the Patient’s Willingness to

Patients Insurance Co. Pay
Healthy 9000 1000 1200
Morbid 1000 5000 4000

(a)How would a full information equilibrium be characterised? What would be the price charged? At which price would both
groups buy insurance?
(b)Would the market for health insurance (in this example) unravel in the presence of asymmetric information? Which economic
term exemplifies this phenomenon?
Say, the government mandates that everyone must buy insurance and fixes the price of this ‘compulsory’ insurance at Rs 1200.
(c) What must be the lump sum subsidy that the government must pay per patient to the insurance company for the insurance
company to break even?
(d)What is the consumer’s surplus (CS) enjoyed by each ‘morbid’ consumer through this decree of the government? Calculate
the social surplus (defined by the difference between the total consumers’ surplus enjoyed by both groups and the subsidy paid
by the government)?
12. Consider the market for ‘second hand cars’. There are 1000 ‘second hand cars’ for sale; a quarter are low quality (‘lemons’),
while the others are high quality (‘plums’). The owner of a lemon is willing to sell it for any price above Rs.200, but the owner of
a plum is willing to sell it for at least Rs.1100. Lemons are worth Rs.400 to buyers, and plums are worth Rs.1200 to them.
(a)If buyers cannot distinguish between the cars, how much would they be willing to pay for a car? Which cars get sold at
equilibrium? Which economic term exemplifies this phenomenon? How does this equilibrium (p*,q*) compare with a full
information equilibrium?
(b)Now assume that a fraction ‘p’ of the cars are plums. If buyers still cannot distinguish between cars, how large must ‘p’ be for
all cars to be sold in equilibrium? Draw a diagram. What role can quality certification for cars play in this market? How much
would the sellers of each type of car be willing to pay for a ‘good quality’ certification ?
PROBLEM SET 2

1. Consider a pure exchange economy with three persons, 1, 2, 3 and two goods x and y. The utilities are
given by 1(.)= , 2(.)= 3 , 3(.)= 2, respectively. If the endowments are (2,0), (0,12) and (12,0)
respectively, then what can you say about the equilibrium price ratio?

2. Person A lexicographically prefers good x to good y. i.e., when comparing two bundles of x and y, she
strictly prefers the bundle that has more of good x; if the bundles have equal amounts of good x, then she
strictly prefers the bundle that has more of good y and person B considers x and y to be perfect
substitutes, i.e., between bundles (x,y) and (x’,y’), she strictly prefers (x,y) if and only if (x+y) > (x’+y’).
A’s endowment is (0,1) and B’s endowment is (2,0). Describe the competitive equilibrium in this
economy.

3. Suppose that a city can be described by an interval [0,1]. Only 2 citizens, A and B, live in this city at
different locations, A at 0.2 and B at 0.7. Government has decided to set up a nuclear power plant in this
city but is yet to choose its location. Each citizen wants the plant as far as possible from her home and
hence both of them have the same utility function, u(α)=α where α denotes the distance between the plant
and home.

a) Find the set of Pareto optimal locations for the plant. (Hint: Think about this hard, rather than solving
this numerically)

b) What is the social welfare maximising outcome if the government follows the Classical welfare
function? Suppose there is another citizen C who is located at 0.5 and the government asks the citizens to
vote between the Pareto optimal locations. What would be the outcome of majority voting? Which Pareto
optimal location is the social welfare maximizing outcome in this case?

4. Consider a two person two good exchange economy: agents are A and B and goods are 1 and 2. The
agents have the following utility functions:

( 1, 2)= 1+ 2 ; ( 1, 2)= 1 2

There are 5 units of each good. Consider the allocation where Agent A gets 4 units of good 1 only, but
agent b gets 1 unit of good 1 and 5 units of good 2.

a) For what values of α, is the above allocation a ‘No-envy’ allocation (no agent envies the other)?

b) For what values of α, is the above allocation Pareto optimal?

5. Define the majority voting and rank-order voting rules. Using illustrations, describe the Condorcet’s
paradox of majority voting and violation of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives property respectively.
What is the major drawback associated with these voting rules?

Solve all the Varian workbook questions and try different combinations of the utility functions of the two
agents in the exchange economy to find the competitive equilibrium, as already mentioned in the class