This Activity is designed to be used in the classroom or as a homework task to support the teaching and learning of Positive and Negative Externalities.
Positive and Negative Externalities - Activity
Tuition fees and Wind Farms
Two topical events highlight the problems and complexities involved in economic decision making. The first involves the decision by the Government to allow universities in England and Wales to charge up to £3,000 per year for tuition fees. For many students this will mean that they will leave university in debt that will take many years to clear as well as potentially putting off students from low income backgrounds from applying to university.
The second relates to Government plans to expand the number of wind farms on the coasts of England and Wales to help achieve the target of increasing the amount of energy from renewable sources to 10% by 2010.
Both cases involve the issue of externalities - one aspect of market failure. In both, there are positive and negative externalities involved. Your task is to engage in a debate to discuss the relative merits of the two cases. In presenting your case you will need to consider some of the following issues:
Tuition Fees
- The aims of the Government
- The perceived need to increase the number of people going to university
- The earning power of those going to university in the future
- The morality of expecting the taxpayer to subsidise university education
- The benefits to society of a better educated workforce
- The relevance to society's needs of some university courses
- Alternatives to the need to fund higher education
Wind Farms
- The economic viability of wind farms - how much electricity can they produce?
- The cost of setting up wind farms
- Where the funding will come from and the circumstances under which such investment will be forthcoming - should it all be from the Government?
- The location - a visual attraction or aesthetic nightmare?
- Noise pollution - those living nearby may be affected?
- Alternative forms of energy
Image: A wind farm. Copyright: Carlos Zaragoza
Task
Your task is to produce a balanced argument with a recommendation on the way forward for the issue that you have been covering. You must explain the issue using appropriate economic theory and concepts and highlight the key issues using diagrams where necessary. The learning objectives of this activity are to be able to:
- Work as a group to research a current issue
- Articulate the key points relating to the issue and to have data to support those key points
- Use appropriate economic theories to help explain the issues arising
- Understand, use and manipulate diagrams to help explain the issue being studied
- Arrive at informed conclusions based on some clearly defined criteria supported by appropriate data
Related Web site for Research:
Tuition Fees
- Hodge makes a case for raising tuition fees - from the Guardian - some interesting statistics quoted (http://education.guardian.co.uk/specialreports/tuitionfees/story/0,5500,...)
- The future ofhigher education - from the DfES - presents the issues facing higher education [PDF, 610 KB] (http://www.dfes.gov.uk/hegateway/uploads/White%20Pape.pdf)
- Universities UK - represents higher education institutions in the UK (http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk)
- Higher education inthe United Kingdom - from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) - includes useful links and key facts [PDF, 243 KB] (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2004/HEinUK/HEinUK.pdf)
- Articles from the BBC:
- Blair defends top-up fees (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3149902.stm)
- Tuition fees 'justified by earnings' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3046985.stm)
- Tuition fees dog Labour (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3149766.stm)
- Q&A: Student fees (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3013272.stm)
- The National Union of Students' view (http://www.nusonline.co.uk/campaigns/stopfeesnow)
Wind Farms
- British Wind Energy Association - look for the links to various reports that give summaries of the key issues (http://www.bwea.com/offshore/)
- Wind farms produce power from thin air - from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/140398_wind19.html)
- Another view on a wind farm from the US - from the Cape Cod Times - ask yourself how far the US experience is relevant to that of the UK (http://www.capecodonline.com/special/windfarm)
- Offshore wind farm gets go-ahead - from the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/renewable/Story/0,2763,686117,00.html)
- Map showing proposed offshore wind farms in the UK - from the Crown Estate [PDF, 273 KB] (http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/a4planuk_04_03_16.pdf)
- Offshore Wind Energy Network (http://www.owen.eru.rl.ac.uk)
- Go-ahead for offshore wind farms - from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2843201.stm)
- npower renewables - a major company involved in the development of wind power in the UK (http://www.natwindpower.co.uk)
- Thousands of new jobs as green power market takes-off - from Friends of the Earth (http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/20010405122257.html)
Remember - do not just cut and paste - USE the material - you WILL need to read it but try using skim reading techniques to help you to be selective and ensure that any quotes you use are fully acknowledged - date, author, source, etc! The resultant work should be YOUR OWN work not other people's!