Econ 4040 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture I American vs Commonwealth Rules II Civil vs Criminal trials III Types of Laws Outline of Current Lecture I Mathews vsMassell II Tilton vs Richardson III There is no such thing as a free lunch Current Lecture Mathews vsMassell Mayor 4 5 M tax rebate to town citizens but could potentially get reversed and get a 10 fee on this type of spending given that it isn t a priority expenditure Simply a transfer of fees and very expensive to monitor this type of activity but overruled because it is not a priority expenditure In terms of economic analysis how could this ruling be considered given the inefficiencies of regulating this policy Tilton vs Richardson Secretary of the US decision to allow for available grants to colleges and universities including those that are religiously affiliated in order to construct buildings and facilities that are used exclusively for secular educational purposes The taxpayers objected to grants to four institutions in Connecticut all of which were religiously affiliatedclaims that the buildings did not promote religious indoctrination In terms of economics analysis must look at the unitary elasticity of demand and see how spending shifts once taxpayer s funds can be used for the buildings does religious spending go up or down and how are other funds utilized in this case Could be considered in future decisions regarding spending There is no such thing as a free lunch These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Example An apartment building used to have all inclusive security 24 7 Over time this expense became too much and security was reduced a resident was then mugged and injured in the building and is suing the owners of the building for damages and negligence If successful more buildings would likely increase security measures and these costs would be passed down to consumers However problem resides in the fact that there is no willingness to pay demand for these services and would unnecessarily increase charges to those who have no need for security leads to problems like the free rider problem or the tragedy of the commons