ECS3704
EXAM PACK
,JUNE JULY 2021 PORTFOLIO
Assignment 04 (E-portfolio)
Provide a one-paragraph biography and photo, if possible, of yourself under the
heading biography.
Under the heading reflective journal answer the following questions:
1. “Health care should be a public good”. In your arguments for and against, show the
characteristics of private versus public goods clearly.
2. “Discuss or reflect on inequality and poverty and the impact of personal income tax-
funded cash transfers on work effort, also during the Covid-19 pandemic in South
Africa.”
3. “An ad valorem excise duty on crayfish sales would be fair.” Do you agree? Explain
your answer using partial and general equilibrium analysis. Is such a tax
progressive, proportional or regressive? (Hint: Crayfish is considered to be a luxury
product but what is the status of the people who mostly work in processing plants
for crayfish?)
4. “More than half of South Africa’s municipalities are in dire financial health unable to
provide essential public goods.” Critically discuss the Tiebout model as an explanation
for a market-like solution to the efficient provision of local public goods.
We allow a maximum of 2000 words for the four answers. Use your research activities done
during the semester on Lesson 1-11 to substantiate your answers. This will include relevant
parts from the textbook and sources from the Unisa library and Google Scholar. You need to
use the Harvard method of referencing in your citations and reference list (see the video clip,
lesson 1, and library guides on this). Make sure that it is a typed submission, align right-hand
margins and it is your original work (not copied or plagiarised without citing sources). Use
Grammarly.com online to check your grammar (South African English). You can submit your
written assignment as a pdf file on MyUnisa, where you usually upload essay assignments.
The due date is 23 July 2021 for ECP students and 20 August 2021 for the rest of the ECS3704
class. The rubric below should serve as a marking guide in doing the assignment.
Short Essay Assignment Rubric (10 marks for each answer)
Excellent Good Poor
Criteria
8 points 7 points 4 points
The short essay
is not
The short essay
sufficiently
The short essay is is objective and
objective and
objective and for the most
does not fully
uses in-depth part, addresses
address the
analysis to the main issues
issues referred
address all of the referred to in
to in the
Content/Information (60%) issues referred to the proposed
proposed topic.
in the proposed topic. The
The information
topic. The information
provided is not
information provided is for
relevant or
provided is the most part
inadequate to
relevant to relevant and
discuss these
discuss these adequate to
issues.
issues. discuss these
The short essay
issues.
is for the most
part off-topic.
1
, Most of the
references
used are not
Most of the appropriate,
All the references references and/or are not
used are used are of
appropriate and appropriate and good/scholarly
are of are of quality and/or
good/scholarly good/scholarly are not
References and Use of References,
quality. More than quality. The effectively
Harvard method of referencing (10%)
a minimum of minimum of used. The
scholarly scholarly minimum of
resources are resources is scholarly
used and are all used and are resources is not
very effective. for the most reached, and/or
part effective. they are not
used effectively
in the short
essay.
The short essay
is not well
The short essay
written, and
is for the most
The short essay is contains
part well
well written from numerous
written, without
start to finish, spelling errors,
spelling,
without spelling, and/or
grammatical, or
grammatical, or grammatical
English usage
Quality of Writing, Spelling and English usage errors and/or
errors. The
grammar check on MS Word (15%) errors. The essay English usage
essay is for the
is well organized, errors. The
most part well
clear, and essay is poorly
organized,
presents ideas organized,
clear, and
coherently and lacks clarity,
presents ideas
logically. and/or does not
coherently and
present ideas
logically.
coherently and
logically.
The short essay The short essay
follows most of does not follow
The short essay
the the
closely follows all
requirements requirements
the requirements
Format/Layout, Introduction, body and related to related to
related to format
conclusion (10%) format and format and
and layout.
layout. layout.
Originality (5%) Very good Good Poor
Excellent Good Poor
Overall Score
8 or more 7 or more 0 or more
2
, BIOGRAPGHY
PUT YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS
QUESTION 1
1. “Health care should be a public good”. In your arguments for and against, show
the characteristics of private versus public goods clearly.
Definition of a public good
In economics, a public good refers to a commodity or service that is made available to all
members of a society. Typically, these services are administered by governments and paid
for collectively through taxation. Societies will disagree about which goods should be
considered public goods; these differences are often reflected in nations’ government
spending priorities. An important issue that is related to public goods is referred to as the
freerider problem. Since public goods are made available to all peopleregardless of whether
each person individually pays for themit is possible for some members of society to use the
good despite refusing to pay for it. People who do not pay taxes, for example, are
essentially taking a "free ride” on revenues provided by those who do pay them, as do
turnstile jumpers on a subway system. It is therefore paramount access health system
guided by the above background.
Pure public characteristics
Norrivalry
1) Indivisible, one person's consumption does not reduce the quantity available (MC=0).
2) Excluding anyone from consuming a nonrival good is Paretoinefficient.
EXAM PACK
,JUNE JULY 2021 PORTFOLIO
Assignment 04 (E-portfolio)
Provide a one-paragraph biography and photo, if possible, of yourself under the
heading biography.
Under the heading reflective journal answer the following questions:
1. “Health care should be a public good”. In your arguments for and against, show the
characteristics of private versus public goods clearly.
2. “Discuss or reflect on inequality and poverty and the impact of personal income tax-
funded cash transfers on work effort, also during the Covid-19 pandemic in South
Africa.”
3. “An ad valorem excise duty on crayfish sales would be fair.” Do you agree? Explain
your answer using partial and general equilibrium analysis. Is such a tax
progressive, proportional or regressive? (Hint: Crayfish is considered to be a luxury
product but what is the status of the people who mostly work in processing plants
for crayfish?)
4. “More than half of South Africa’s municipalities are in dire financial health unable to
provide essential public goods.” Critically discuss the Tiebout model as an explanation
for a market-like solution to the efficient provision of local public goods.
We allow a maximum of 2000 words for the four answers. Use your research activities done
during the semester on Lesson 1-11 to substantiate your answers. This will include relevant
parts from the textbook and sources from the Unisa library and Google Scholar. You need to
use the Harvard method of referencing in your citations and reference list (see the video clip,
lesson 1, and library guides on this). Make sure that it is a typed submission, align right-hand
margins and it is your original work (not copied or plagiarised without citing sources). Use
Grammarly.com online to check your grammar (South African English). You can submit your
written assignment as a pdf file on MyUnisa, where you usually upload essay assignments.
The due date is 23 July 2021 for ECP students and 20 August 2021 for the rest of the ECS3704
class. The rubric below should serve as a marking guide in doing the assignment.
Short Essay Assignment Rubric (10 marks for each answer)
Excellent Good Poor
Criteria
8 points 7 points 4 points
The short essay
is not
The short essay
sufficiently
The short essay is is objective and
objective and
objective and for the most
does not fully
uses in-depth part, addresses
address the
analysis to the main issues
issues referred
address all of the referred to in
to in the
Content/Information (60%) issues referred to the proposed
proposed topic.
in the proposed topic. The
The information
topic. The information
provided is not
information provided is for
relevant or
provided is the most part
inadequate to
relevant to relevant and
discuss these
discuss these adequate to
issues.
issues. discuss these
The short essay
issues.
is for the most
part off-topic.
1
, Most of the
references
used are not
Most of the appropriate,
All the references references and/or are not
used are used are of
appropriate and appropriate and good/scholarly
are of are of quality and/or
good/scholarly good/scholarly are not
References and Use of References,
quality. More than quality. The effectively
Harvard method of referencing (10%)
a minimum of minimum of used. The
scholarly scholarly minimum of
resources are resources is scholarly
used and are all used and are resources is not
very effective. for the most reached, and/or
part effective. they are not
used effectively
in the short
essay.
The short essay
is not well
The short essay
written, and
is for the most
The short essay is contains
part well
well written from numerous
written, without
start to finish, spelling errors,
spelling,
without spelling, and/or
grammatical, or
grammatical, or grammatical
English usage
Quality of Writing, Spelling and English usage errors and/or
errors. The
grammar check on MS Word (15%) errors. The essay English usage
essay is for the
is well organized, errors. The
most part well
clear, and essay is poorly
organized,
presents ideas organized,
clear, and
coherently and lacks clarity,
presents ideas
logically. and/or does not
coherently and
present ideas
logically.
coherently and
logically.
The short essay The short essay
follows most of does not follow
The short essay
the the
closely follows all
requirements requirements
the requirements
Format/Layout, Introduction, body and related to related to
related to format
conclusion (10%) format and format and
and layout.
layout. layout.
Originality (5%) Very good Good Poor
Excellent Good Poor
Overall Score
8 or more 7 or more 0 or more
2
, BIOGRAPGHY
PUT YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS
QUESTION 1
1. “Health care should be a public good”. In your arguments for and against, show
the characteristics of private versus public goods clearly.
Definition of a public good
In economics, a public good refers to a commodity or service that is made available to all
members of a society. Typically, these services are administered by governments and paid
for collectively through taxation. Societies will disagree about which goods should be
considered public goods; these differences are often reflected in nations’ government
spending priorities. An important issue that is related to public goods is referred to as the
freerider problem. Since public goods are made available to all peopleregardless of whether
each person individually pays for themit is possible for some members of society to use the
good despite refusing to pay for it. People who do not pay taxes, for example, are
essentially taking a "free ride” on revenues provided by those who do pay them, as do
turnstile jumpers on a subway system. It is therefore paramount access health system
guided by the above background.
Pure public characteristics
Norrivalry
1) Indivisible, one person's consumption does not reduce the quantity available (MC=0).
2) Excluding anyone from consuming a nonrival good is Paretoinefficient.
