for A-plus writer

gregory velazco y trianosky

phil. 305 “business ethics”

spring 2014

take-home essay #2

A hard copy of this essay is due in class on the date indicated in your syllabus.

Please put your full name, your section number, and “Essay #2” on the first page of your exam. Your answer should be approximately 3-4 pages in length. Your exam should be computer-printed in 14-point font, with no more than one-inch margins all around, double-spaced.

Write your answer as a teacher explaining these ideas to an imaginary class of students who have not heard this material before. You may study with other students while preparing this essay. Please be sure, however, that the answer you turn in is substantially your own, and not simply copies or paraphrases of someone else’s words. If you do work with anyone else, you must list their names on your essay.

Essay #2 Explain the definition of an externality given in class. Explain the specific type of externality that we have called “The Tragedy of the Commons.” (HINT: remember that, as we have discussed it, this type of externality is a problem in what economists call the theory of rational choice.) Explain the specific type of externality that we have called “Unpriced Natural Capital”. (HINT: be sure to ask yourself, what makes the situation as described in your reading an externality?)

Select one of these two types of externalities, and explain how a laissez-faire philosophy could best try to solve it. Do you think this solution will be successful in resolving the externality? Explain.