US High School Economics class: The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon

This article picked by a teacher with suggested questions is part of the Financial Times free schools access programme. Details/registration here.

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Specification:

• Externalities

Click to read the article below and then answer the questions:

The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon

• Graph the demand for sardines and sardinella. What has happened to the equilibrium price and quantity?

• Explain how sardine and sardinella fishing is a tragedy of the commons problem

• Identify two to three solutions to the tragedy of the commons problem as identified in the article. Are these solutions likely to effectively address the problem? Why or why not? Can you think of an additional solution?

Ariel Slonim at MRU Econinbox