Question

write essay on market pollution​

Answer 1

Pollution in the world today is a problem for the environment and the people living there. The pollution problem arises from the use of the environment by producers and consumers as a dumping ground for wastes. The environment can be defined as the air, water, and land around us. It provides with a variety of important services, including a place for humans to live and resources with which to produce goods and services. As humans use the environment to transform raw materials into final goods and services to satisfy human wants, it is affected in three major ways. First of all, some of the earth’s nonreplicable resources, such as coal, petroleum, and many mineral deposits, may be diminished. Second, humans also may use replaceable resources like timber, grassland, oxygen, and nitrogen. Third, the environment is used as a place to dispose of the wastes of production and consumption.

This third point is of most concern to us. Humans litter the land with cans, paper, and other materials, dump the emissions from our automobiles and factories into the atmosphere, and empty sewage directly and indirectly into streams, rivers, and lakes. As these wastes from production and consumption are dumped into the environment, nature sets in motion recycling processes. However, pollution consists of piling the environment with wastes that are not completely recycled, are not recycled fast enough, or are not recycled at all. It also involves a lessening of the capacity of the environment to yield environmental services. Pollution happens when recycling processes fail to prevent wastes from accumulating in the environment.

Pollution is not a new concept. It has been around just as long as the human race has. Wherever people came together to live, their wastes would pile up faster than the forces of nature could digest and recycle them. Then, as places became denser with people, and cities and towns were formed, pollution got worse and worse. There are three main forms of pollution: air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. Air pollution results from five major wastes being dumped into the atmosphere: carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulates. Water pollution results from certain materials and toxins being disposed of in bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, and streams, and is measured in terms of the capacity of water to support aquatic life. Land pollution results from the dumping of a variety of wastes on the terrain and from tearing up the Earth’s surface.

Why does pollution occur? Ordinarily, pollution results from one or both of two factors. First, property rights that exist in the environment being polluted are either nonexistent or not enforced. If no one owns a portion of the environment or if an owner cannot regulate it or have it regulated, then it becomes possible for people to use a river, the air, or land as a wastebasket without being charged for doing so. Second, the entire population shares much of the environment’s services, so no one person takes responsibility of keeping it clean. When values cannot be placed on the amounts of environmental services used by any one person, it is difficult to persuade people not to pollute by charging them for doing so.

Pollution affects resource allocation. First of all, supply curves indicate the marginal private cost of producing a good or service. This includes both explicit costs and implicit costs. Explicit costs are the costs of production incurred by the producer to buy or hire the resources required to carry on business. Implicit costs, however, are the costs of production incurred by the producer for the use of self-owned, self-employed resources required to carry on business. What would not be included in the supply curve would be costs for resources used that firms do not pay for. For example, if companies use a local river or stream for waste disposal and do not pay for the right to do so, no charge is incurred by the companies.

Although the use of the river does not show up on the companies’ cost ledger, society, as a whole is who pays for it. The use of the river for waste disposal creates a negative externality (a cost to society) in production. In turn, the marginal social cost of production will be greater than the marginal private cost of producing. This can be shown in a graph like the one below. The graph represents a market for some good where the producer pollutes. The curve labeled MSC represents the cost to society to produce this good, while the curve labeled MPC represents the private cost to the producer. Notice that the MPC curve shows that it would cost them $25 to produce 6 units of this good. Then, notice that the MSC curve exceeds the MPC. This is because society bears the burden of the negative externality created by the firm’s pollution. The cost to society to produce 6 units of this good is $35.

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