The market for paper in a particular region has the supply and demand curves: QD = 160,000 - 2,000P QS = 40,000 + 2,000P, where Q is measured in hundred-pound lots, and P is price per hundred-pound lot. There is currently no attempt to regulate the dumping of effluent into streams and rivers by the paper mills. As a result, dumping is widespread. The marginal external cost associated with the paper production is given by the expression: MEC = 0.0002Q.
a. Sketch a diagram showing the costs or benefits to society of allowing the market to operate in an unregulated fashion.