Use headlines from the recent news to illustrate the potential for conflict between self-interest and the social interest
What will be an ideal response?
One example of an issue concerns the income necessary to live in an apartment building in San Francisco. A May 5, 2014 headline from The San Francisco Chronicle was "S.F. Landlord: Make $100K or Get Out." This story discusses an owner's attempt to make the tenants prove that their annual income is at least $100,000 . The owner is following his self-interest because he wants to have only high-income residents who, presumably, create less damage and might be willing to pay more rent. The head of San Francisco's Housing Rights Committee, Sara Shortt, believes that the requirement is not in the social interest. She asserts that the effort "definitely reads like a harassment tactic" and that the effort to force tenants to move is illegal. She believes that the social interest is served by having a variety of tenants in the apartments.
You might also like to view...
Suppose that the effective return to a U.S. investor from buying a U.K. bond is 5.55%. Forward and spot exchange rates ($/£) are 2.10 and 2.00 respectively. The interest rate on the U.K. bond is most likely equal to:
A) 5.45% B) 5.500% C) 5.650% D) 5.60%
During the late 1800s and early 1900s,
(a) American society clearly recognized the value of labor in the profit process. (b) U.S. legislation and courts of law appeared hostile to the interests of organized working employees. (c) society, at large, generally favored the efforts of workers to combine into unions to negotiate with employers. (d) organized labor had a stable and respected place in politics.
Economists generally assume that ____ economic growth is better for society
a. slower b. faster c. stable d. declining
Suppose that monopolistically competitive firms in a certain market are earning positive profits. In the transition from this initial situation to a long-run equilibrium,
a. the number of firms in the market decreases. b. each existing firm experiences a decrease in demand for its product. c. each existing firm experiences a rightward shift of its marginal revenue curve. d. each existing firm experiences an upward shift in its average total cost curve.