Critical Thinking Questions

17. Can a company be guaranteed all of the social benefits of a new invention? Why or why not?

18. Is it inevitable that government must become involved in supporting investments in new technology?

19. How do public television stations, like PBS, try to overcome the free rider problem?

20. Why is a football game on ESPN a quasi-public good but a game on the NBC, CBS, or ABC is a public good?

21. Provide two examples of goods/services that are classified as private goods/services even though they are provided by a federal government.

22. Radio stations, tornado sirens, light houses, and street lights are all public goods in that all are nonrivalrous and nonexclusionary. Therefore why does the government provide tornado sirens, street lights and light houses but not radio stations (other than PBS stations)?

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