Assignment on Externalized Costs

Anegative externality isthe cost that affects a third party who is not compensated.

Businesses increase profits by imposing costs they create onto others (i.e., society).

The classic example of a negative externality is pollution.The cost of pollution includes deterioration of productive eco-systems and health issues.

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Your report will be on a negative externality of a public corporation, preferably related to your academic area of interest.Your report should include who was

involved, what they did, and the impact of what they did on society.

Specifically:

Who: Identify a public corporation that created the externality.This part should consist of about two sentences.

What:Describe the externality in terms of the process that creates it.For example, Corporation A is shipping electronic waste through a 3rd party to a less developed country, where workers mine the waste for parts.During the process, toxins seep into the soil and contaminate workers.This section should take between to one page.

How much: Explain how the externality harms society.Continuing with the example above, the contaminated workers have health problems, for which society pays. The contaminated workers often become sick and die.The government bears the cost of treating the sickness, etc.The families suffer from the lost income, sometimes resulting in government welfare, etc. The exact cost to society is difficult to quantify, but consider the severity and duration of the externality (similar to illness).In the example above, the severity is death, but to a limited number of people, and the duration of the cost to families and therefore society could cross generations.This section should take between to one page.

Make sure to cite every fact and piece of evidence with a reference.For example: America incarcerates more people per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Make sure that a reasonable person would consider the source credible.I personally consider Wikipedia credible, as long as the references cited on Wikipedia

are credible. Please try to choose a public corporation that

(1) people are familiar with, and an externality that

(2) is reasonably current,

(3) is not very well known and

(4) is not related to oil spills.

List of Documentaries and useful website

Documentaries:

The Take

This Revolution will Not be Televised

A Century of Self BBC--Marketing

Inside JobFinance

The Corporation

Rebels at the Pipeline

Websites:

Alternet

Huffington Post Sustainability section

Peta

Reddit

Triple Pundit

Aspen Institute

Commondreams.org

Truthdig.com