water resource economics

Water Resource Economics

Spring 2024

25 points

(2-3 typed pages including tables/figures)

A vigorous debate rages over which of two potential urban water supply programs is an economically better way to supply safe affordable drinking water to residents of a large poor city. The high points of each program are:

• Program 1: Supply a minority of the population with cheap piped‐in water by delivering 10,000 acre feet per year of utility supplied water from a central delivery system, at a price equal to the average cost of supply, $300/ac‐ft. The remainder of water must be bought from street vendors described, for example, at https://www.wiego.org/informal-economy/occupational-groups/street-vendorsLinks to an external site. at a price of $900 / ac‐ft.
• Program 2: Supply the entire population by meeting all demands at a constant price.  This program would build and use a shiny new engineered central delivery system that supplies water at a constant price equal to the average cost of supply.  That price is $600 / per acre foot, charged to all buyers, for which total use is 70,000 ac-ft.

Your task is to compare Total Annual Economic Benefits (TAEB = CS + TR – TC) of each program by ranking the economic performance of each from the view of the city’s water buyers/suppliers.   You can use these abbreviations:

CS = consumer surplus   = willingness to pay minus actual payments          calculated for each program

TR = total revenue           = price x quantity                                                    calculated for each program

TC = total cost                 = average cost x quantity                                        calculated for each program

I will show you more about these terms in our class slides this week, letting you see a down-sloping water demand function for which the maximum price of water (y intercept) is $1650 per ac‐ft.

Q 1 (15 points) Calculate the Total Annual Economic Benefits (TAEB) to the city’s water stakeholders for each program and show calculations.

Q 2 (10 points). You have been hired as an expert consultant, and will snag a juicy consulting fee if you recommend the right choice. Describe your recommended choice and explain why you would make it.

This week you will begin working on your Art Appreciation Project by selecting your topic and creating an outline. Please see the Course Project Overview for a comprehensive view of the entire project, which also includes an annotated bibliography and a presentation.

To get started, you will choose an artist or work of art that you enjoy. It does not have to be in our textbook. Here are a few examples of topics students have chosen in the past.

1. Tattoos as art (focus on a particular tattoo style or tattoo artist)
2. Comic books and graphic novels as art (focus on a particular artist or character)
3. Something more traditional: Greek sculpture, the Egyptian Pyramids, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso
4. Abstract or nonrepresentational art forms; for example, Jackson Pollock 
5. Jewelry, fashion design, everyday objects as art
6. Automotive design (a certain car model such as a 1965 Mustang)
7. An unjustly overlooked artist who should be in our textbook, but isn't
8. Outlaw artists (graffiti artists such as Banksy)
9. Digital art
10. Medieval armor and weaponry
11. A work of art or artist who changed the world

Please ask your professor for guidance if you are unsure about your topic choice. Your topic must be based on a tangible form of art that can be seen. Please do not choose topics in literature, history, music, or philosophy.

This week you will begin your research presentation project by creating an outline. Please follow this template.

1. Title of your Presentation: An example is Body Art Really Is Art.
2. Thesis: This is the main point you wish to make. An example is the following: Although some may dismiss tattoos or even condemn them, a closer look reveals that they are worthy of respect as an art form.
3. Subject: This is the artist or work(s) of art you will focus on. An example is the following: This presentation will focus on the style of tattoos practiced by the Maoris, the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand.
4. Scope of Research: What do you already know? What do you want to find out? An example is the following: I know that the Maoris have practiced tattoo art for hundreds of years. I would like to understand the meaning of the tattoo styles. I am interested in knowing how the Maori tattoo style has influenced tattoos in other cultures. I would also like to know how the Maori feel about the cultural appropriation of their tattoo styles by people from outside the Maori culture.
5. Scholarly Source: Find one reputable source from the DeVry University Library related to your topic and provide the reference. Tell us in your own words briefly what it is about and how it will be useful to you. For an example, see the Assignment Connection in this week's lesson.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words and use at least one source (this includes a citation in the narrative and an APA formatted source):

• Do you think organizations differ from each other when placing importance on areas of the SWOT analysis?
• Describe a real-world example of an organization that would place more importance on one area of the SWOT analysis compared to another area.

Price controls, such as one proposed on rents in Sanford in 2023 (see attached article), are an effort to impose a social value (affordable housing) on owners of apartments and houses. They often do no work as intended as the Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman noted with his pithy statement of “Roofs or Ceilings:”

Rent ceilings, therefore, cause haphazard and arbitrary allocation of space, inefficient use of space, retardation of new construction and indefinite continuance of rent ceilings, or subsidization of new construction and a future depression in residential building. Formal rationing by public authority would probably make matters still worse. https://fee.org/resources/roofs-or-ceilings-the-current-housing-problem/

If you could impose a price ceiling, name a good or service that you would like to see a ceiling (or floor) placed on and explain with a justification (do not use a good that another student has mentioned). Would there be any negative consequences? Draw a supply and demand curve (upload/attach a photo or drawing) illustrating the equilibrium price and where you would place your ceiling (or floor).