Government and the Economy

1. How does the government protect property rights?

1.1. The Constitutional Basis for Government Involvement in the Economy

1.2. Exception is eminent domain.

1.3. http://www.heritage.org/index/property-rights

1.4. The article says that the government protects the rights of people to own private property by the rules of the constitution in the 1st article. It also protects intellectual property like ideas and patents.

2. How should Government address externalities and public goods?

2.1. Supporting Positive Externalities

2.2. Limiting Negative Externalities

2.3. Preserving Common Resources

2.4. Government provides public goods.

2.5. http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/PublicGoodsandExternalities.html

2.6. This article talks about how the problem with public goods is that there will always be people that use the goods without paying. That is why the government has to use tax money. If they would have left it to a company to make the goods, they would lose money because of the free rider problem.

3. What regulatory roles does Government play in our economy?

3.1. Maintaining competition

3.2. Protecting Consumers, Savers, and Investors

3.3. Protecting workers

3.4. http://www.epi.org/publication/regulation_employment_and_the_economy_fears_of_job_loss_are_overblown/

3.5. The government makes rules and regulations so no company can get too big and own a market. They do this because the don't want the consumers to be paying too much. They also make regulations so companies do not underpay or hurt workers.

4. What does government do to promote economic well-being?

4.1. Government helps make the economy stable.

4.2. Government redistributes income to poverty.

4.3. http://economics.about.com/od/howtheuseconomyworks/a/government.htm

4.4. This article describes the government as a necessary way for the economy to be stable. The government tries to keep prices low and jobs high. Without the government, the economy would be moving all over and prices would be worse and so would the job market.