Note that there are two types of problems. You are encouraged to work with someone else in your TA section on the quantitative problems (2, 3); hand in one set of answers to these problems with both your names. You should do the essay question (1) individually and append separate answers with each person's name for these to your group answers to the quantitative problems. Type your answers; staple pages together.
1) Rights and markets.
"Healthcare is a right, not a privilege"
- popular bumpersticker
a) Give examples of guaranteed rights that we accept and of things that are not guaranteed, but rather are conditional on success in the marketplace.
b) How would it change our public policy if we treated healthcare as a right?
c) Are we, as a nation, insincere in our commitment to democratic rights and equality? How does Arthur Okun resolve this seeming contradiction?
d) Is Okun right about the tradeoff between rights and economic efficiency?
Does inequality reduce welfare? Evaluate Alejandro Reuss's article "Cause of Death" (Real World Micro). What is the effect of our market system and inequality on life expectancy? What effect do you imagine poor health has on economic efficiency? How might competitive consumption lower happiness?