GEF

Unit 7  |  The Economics of Sustainability 148 a competitive environment. Many companies that operate as monopolies are multinational companies. That means they cannot be regulated unless the governments of all the countries cooperate. As a result, some of these very large firms hold a lot of power in the global economic system, and their actions can influence environmental and social health around the world. Externalities are a key concept associated with market fail- ures. An externality is any cost or benefit of an economic transaction not captured in the price of the transaction. Negative externalities represent costs to society, rather than to the producer or consumer of a product. Air pollution caused by vehicles or water pollution caused by runoff of fertilizer are examples of an externality. EXTERNALITIES In economics, a cost or benefit that is not reflected in market prices. WATCH & LEARN http://bit.ly/2qlAlmA Watch the video and respond to the questions below. 1. What is national economic growth tracked by and what does it measure? 2. What is a primary goal of most nations? 3. Explain the conflict between economic growth and sustainability. video: Measures of Economic Growth