Question

As the extent of environmental protection expands, would you expect marginal costs of environmental protection to rise or fall? Why or why not?

Short answer

As the extent of environmental protection expands, we would expect the marginal costs of environmental protection to rise. This is due to the increasing costs associated with expanding and maintaining protection measures, as well as the decreasing benefits derived from each additional unit of environmental protection, as a result of the law of diminishing returns.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding Marginal Costs and Environmental Protection

Marginal cost refers to the additional cost of producing one more unit of a good or service. In the context of environmental protection, it refers to the cost of implementing additional protective measures. The aim of such measures is to reduce the negative impact of human activities on the environment.

Law of Diminishing Returns

The law of diminishing returns states that as more resources are allocated towards a specific activity, the additional benefits derived from using each additional unit of the resource will eventually decrease. In the context of environmental protection, this means that the costs of increasing the environmental protection are likely to increase as more resources are allocated because the additional benefits of each new protective measure will begin to decrease.

Marginal Costs of Environmental Protection

As the extent of environmental protection expands, the cost of implementing new measures and maintaining existing measures will likely increase. This is because the more extensive the environmental protection, the more resources are needed to maintain and expand it. Additionally, as aforementioned, the law of diminishing returns will come into effect, making each additional unit of environmental protection less effective and increasingly more expensive to implement and maintain.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as the extent of environmental protection expands, we would expect the marginal costs of environmental protection to rise. This is due to a combination of increasing costs associated with expanding and maintaining protection measures and the decreasing benefits derived from each additional unit of environmental protection as a result of the law of diminishing returns.