Social Costs And Benefits example essay topic

366 words
The main reason why education in general can be considered to be a market failure is because it is a merit good. These are goods that which the government feels people will under-consume and therefore will subsidise it or provide it for free. Education is one such thing. The government provides lots of public schools so parents can afford to send their child to school at low prices. If the government does not supply this good above the market level, we will see declining literacy rates in many countries. This is not at all beneficial, after all economies can benefit from a more educated work force, which may improve efficiency or bring in fresh ideas.

Another point if education is not subsidised is that parents may think twice before allowing their children to go to school. If the costs of allowing them to go to school is close to the budget that the parents have, then it might be better for the family if they saved the money spent on school fees. Besides that, there exists two secondary factors leading to why education is considered to be a market failure. The first is dependants.

This means that people make decisions on other people's behalf. Using education as the example, parents may refuse to send their children for schooling, whilst others may think otherwise. In this particular situation, the decision is unwise, leading to necessary government intervention. The second is externalities. Externalities are defined to be the consequences generated by the action of a particular consumer on others. These can be either positive effects (social benefits) or negative effects (social costs).

Education creates externalities. The acceptance of a student creates both social costs and benefits. The benefit is that the economy will benefit from a more educated population. However, the acceptance of a student into a particular school or university means that there is one less spot available for other new students to enter. In this sense it produces social costs, as by accepting this one student, the school is taking away the opportunity of another student.