Capitalism Questions and Answers PDF

**Capitalism** 1. **What is capitalism? ​** - Capitalism is an economic system in which the major portion of production and distribution is in private hands, operating under a profit or market system. ​ 2. **How does capitalism differ from socialism?** - Capitalism...

**Capitalism** 1. **What is capitalism? ​** - Capitalism is an economic system in which the major portion of production and distribution is in private hands, operating under a profit or market system. ​ 2. **How does capitalism differ from socialism?** - Capitalism involves private ownership and a market-driven economy, while socialism is characterized by public ownership of property and a planned economy. ​ 3. **What is worker control socialism? ​** - Worker control socialism is a hybrid market-oriented socialism where workers have control over the production processes. ​ 4. **How has capitalism evolved historically? ​** - Capitalism has evolved through several stages: mercantile, industrial, financial, and state welfare. ​ 5. **What is globalized capitalism? ​** - Globalized capitalism involves reliance on foreign labor and services, joint ventures in overseas companies, outsourcing, etc. ​ 6. **How does capitalism adapt to new socioeconomic and political conditions? ​** - Capitalism is constantly changing as new socioeconomic and political conditions arise. ​ 7. **What role do companies play in capitalism? ​** - Companies are business organizations that exist separately from the people associated with them, permitted by capitalism. ​ 8. **What is the profit motive in capitalism? ​** - The profit motive implies that human beings are economic creatures motivated by their own monetary interests. ​ 9. **How does competition function in a capitalist system? ​** - Free competition makes individual pursuit of self-interest socially beneficial, as explained by Adam Smith. ​ 10. **What is the significance of private property in capitalism? ​** - Capitalism requires private ownership of the major means of production. ​ 11. **What is the natural right to property? ​** - It is a basic defense of capitalism that rests on a supposed natural moral right to property. ​ 12. **How do utilitarians view the right to property? ​** - Utilitarians deny the existence of such rights. ​ 13. **What is Adam Smith's concept of the invisible hand? ​** - It is the idea that when people pursue their own economic interests, they unintentionally produce the greatest good for all. ​ 14. **How does the law of supply and demand regulate the market? ​** - A market left to itself is regulated by the mechanism of supply and demand. ​ 15. **How does the law of supply and demand apply to wages? ​** - The high demand for certain types of goods in one area of the market will eventually be offset by supply in another area, including wages. ​ 16. **What are the theoretical criticisms of capitalism? ​** - Theoretical criticisms challenge capitalism's fundamental values, basic assumptions, or inherent economic tendencies. ​ 17. **What are the operational criticisms of capitalism? ​** - Operational criticisms focus on capitalism's failure to live up to its own economic ideals. ​ 18. **How do critics argue that capitalism leads to inequality? ​** - Critics argue that poverty and inequality challenge the fairness of capitalism and its claim to advance the interests of all. ​ 19. **How do defenders of capitalism respond to criticisms of inequality? ​** - Defenders respond by blaming government interference, arguing for internal modification by political action, or claiming the benefits outweigh the weak points. 20. **What assumptions about human nature does capitalism make? ​** - Capitalism assumes that human beings are rational economic maximizers. ​ 21. **How does capitalism view material consumption? ​** - Capitalism operates on the assumption that human beings find increased well-being through ever greater material consumption. ​ 22. **What are oligopolies, and how do they relate to capitalism? ​** - Oligopolies are concentrations of property and resources in the hands of a few, which capitalism can breed. ​ 23. **What is corporate welfare, and how does it affect competition? ​** - Corporate welfare programs often shelter businesses from competition. ​ 24. **How do critics argue that cooperation is better than competition? ​** - Critics contend that cooperation leads to better individual and group performance than competition. ​ 25. **What is Karl Marx's view on exploitation in capitalism? ​** - Marx argued that the bourgeoisie exploits laborers by paying them less than the true value created by their labor. ​ 26. **How does Marx explain the concept of alienation? ​** - Alienation is the separation of individuals from the objects of their creativity, resulting in separation from other people, oneself, and human nature. ​ **Today's Economic Challenges ​** 1. **How has American manufacturing declined since the 1960s? ​** - Manufacturing accounted for 27 percent of GDP in the mid-1960s but has fallen to about half that. ​ 2. **What are the implications of the decline in manufacturing jobs?** - Manufacturing employs less than 10 percent of the U.S. workforce, and the number of factory jobs hit a fifty-seven-year low in 2007. ​ 3. **How has outsourcing affected the U.S. economy? ​** - Many U.S. manufacturers have closed or curtailed operations, becoming marketing organizations for other producers, usually foreign. ​ 4. **What are the arguments for and against outsourcing? ​** - Some argue it benefits America by focusing on competitive advantages, while others argue it hurts the economy due to massive job losses. ​ 5. **How has outsourcing affected white-collar jobs? ​** - Over 1.3 million manufacturing jobs have moved abroad since 1992, and at least 300,000 white-collar jobs may flow overseas every year through 2015. ​ 6. **What is the projected impact of outsourcing on white-collar jobs by 2015? ​** - A total loss of 3.4 million white-collar jobs is projected. 7. **How do economists view the benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing? ​** - Economists disagree, with some arguing it benefits the economy and others arguing it causes harm due to job losses. ​ 8. **What is the current state of the U.S. trade deficit? ​** - America imports twice as much merchandise as it exports, with a trade deficit over \$700 billion annually. ​ 9. **How has the U.S. reliance on foreign borrowing changed? ​** - Foreign creditors now provide two-thirds of America's net domestic investment. ​ 10. **What are the implications of the U.S. owing \$3 trillion to foreign creditors? ​** - It indicates increased reliance on foreign borrowing and potential economic vulnerability. ​ 11. **How have American attitudes toward work changed since 1970? ​** - Americans now work 20 percent more, but the work ethic is disappearing, with only one in three believing hard work pays off. ​ 12. **What factors contribute to the disappearing American work ethic? ​** - People are less interested in work and more in looking out for themselves, seeking meaningful and challenging work. ​ 13. **How has increased education affected American work attitudes? ​** - Increased education has led to a rearrangement of ideas about what people want from life and work. ​ 14. **What do Americans now seek from their work? ​** - Americans seek meaningful and challenging work that offers autonomy and self-development. ​ 15. **How has the nature of work changed in the U.S.? ​** - There is a shift from manufacturing to service-oriented and knowledge-based jobs. ​ 16. **What are the challenges of maintaining a strong manufacturing base in the U.S.? ​** - The decline in manufacturing jobs and the shift to a service-oriented economy pose challenges to maintaining a strong manufacturing base. ​ 17. **How has the evolution of companies affected the U.S. economy?** - Companies have evolved into entities that do little or no manufacturing, focusing instead on marketing and other profit-making functions. ​ 18. **What are the implications of companies becoming marketing organizations?** - This evolution can lead to a loss of domestic manufacturing capabilities and increased reliance on foreign producers. ​ 19. **How do trade deficits impact the U.S. economy?** - Trade deficits can lead to increased foreign debt and reliance on foreign investment, potentially weakening the domestic economy. ​ 20. **What are the arguments for and against producing goods for the world market? ​** - Proponents argue it allows countries to focus on their competitive advantages, while opponents argue it can lead to job losses and economic instability. ​ 21. **How does the U.S. trade deficit affect domestic investment? ​** - The trade deficit increases reliance on foreign borrowing, which can affect domestic investment and economic stability. ​ 22. **What are the long-term implications of the U.S. trade deficit?** - Long-term implications include increased foreign debt, potential economic vulnerability, and reliance on foreign investment. ​ 23. **How has the American workforce changed in terms of employment sectors? ​** - There has been a shift from manufacturing to service-oriented and knowledge-based jobs. ​ 24. **What are the economic challenges facing the U.S. today? ​** - Challenges include the decline in manufacturing, outsourcing, trade deficits, and changing work attitudes. ​ 25. **How do changing work attitudes affect economic productivity?** - Changing attitudes toward work can affect productivity, with people seeking more meaningful and challenging work rather than just monetary rewards. ​ 26. **What are the potential solutions to the economic challenges faced by the U.S.?** - Solutions may include investing in education and training, encouraging innovation, and developing policies to support domestic manufacturing and reduce trade deficits. **Corporations** 1. **What is a corporation? ​** - A corporation is a three-part organization made up of stockholders, managers, and employees. ​ 2. **Who are the three main components of a corporation?** - The three main components are stockholders, managers, and employees. ​ 3. **What is the role of stockholders in a corporation? ​** - Stockholders provide the capital, own the corporation, and enjoy liability limited to the amount of their investments. ​ 4. **What is the role of managers in a corporation? ​** - Managers run the business operations. ​ 5. **What is the role of employees in a corporation?** - Employees produce the goods and services. ​ 6. **What is the concept of limited liability in a corporation? ​** - Members of a corporation are financially responsible for the debts of the organization only up to the extent of their investments. ​ 7. **How do corporations differ from other business partnerships? ​** - Corporations require public registration or acknowledgment by the law, and shareholders are entitled to dividends only when declared by the corporation's directors. 8. **What are the different kinds of corporations? ​** - Corporations can be for-profit, nonprofit, privately owned, or owned wholly or in part by the government, and can be privately or publicly held. ​ 9. **How did the modern business corporation evolve? ​** - The corporate form developed during the Middle Ages, with the first corporations being towns, universities, and ecclesiastical orders. ​ 10. **What was the role of the Crown in the traditional system of incorporation? ​** - The Crown (in England) or the state government (in the U.S.) granted charters to corporations. ​ 11. **How did the system of incorporation change in the 19th century? ​** - Corporate status was granted to any organization that filled out the forms and paid the fees, rather than through petitioning the Crown or state government. ​ 12. **What motivated the change in the system of incorporation? ​** - The belief that a corporation should not be directly tied to any public policy and the view that a corporation is a by-product of the people's right of association. ​ 13. **What is the significance of corporations being considered legal persons? ​** - Corporations enjoy rights and protections that any ordinary individuals do, such as free speech and due process. ​ 14. **What rights and protections do corporations enjoy as legal persons? ​** - Rights include free speech, due process, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, jury trial, and freedom from double jeopardy. ​ 15. **What is the debate over corporations as moral agents? ​** - The debate centers on whether corporations can make moral decisions and be held morally responsible for their actions. ​ 16. **Can corporations make moral decisions? ​** - The process of moral corporate decision-making is filtered through the corporate internal decision (CID) structures, which consist of individuals but operate like a machine. ​ 17. **How does the corporate internal decision (CID) structure affect moral decision-making? ​** - The CID structure can make it difficult to assign individual responsibility for corporate outcomes. ​ 18. **What is the issue of vanishing individual responsibility in corporations? ​** - The structure of modern corporations contributes to the diffusion of responsibility, making it hard to hold any particular person(s) morally responsible. ​ 19. **How can moral agency be attributed to corporations? ​** - One response is to attribute moral agency to the corporation itself, while another is to refuse to let individuals duck their personal responsibility. ​ 20. **What is the narrow view of corporate responsibility?** - The narrow view, as argued by Milton Friedman, is that a corporation's only social responsibility is to make money within the rules of the game. ​ 21. **What is the broader view of corporate social responsibility? ​** - The broader view includes acting morally, refraining from socially undesirable behavior, and contributing actively and directly to the public good. ​ 22. **How does the relationship between business and society function as a social contract? ​** - It requires business to operate in socially beneficial ways and take responsibility for the unintended side effects of their business transactions. ​ 23. **What are the arguments for and against profit maximization as the sole responsibility of corporations? ​** - Proponents argue it makes the economic system more efficient, while opponents argue that corporations have obligations to other constituencies as well. ​ 24. **How do proponents of the broader view of corporate responsibility argue their case? ​** - They argue that management has responsibilities to employees, bondholders, consumers, and the public at large, not just stockholders. ​ 25. **Who controls the corporation, according to most business observers? ​** - Management handpicks the board of directors, thus controlling the body that is supposed to police it. ​ 26. **How can corporations institutionalize ethics within their organizations? ​** - By acknowledging the importance of conducting business morally, encouraging members to take moral responsibilities seriously, inviting public discussion and review, and recognizing the pluralistic nature of the social system. ​ **Business and Ecology ​** 1. **What is the definition of ecology? ​** - Ecology is the science of the interrelationships among organisms (especially humans) and their environments. ​ 2. **What are ecosystems? ​** - Ecosystems are total ecological communities, both living and nonliving, where webs of interdependency structure the system, and a change in one element can have ripple effects throughout the system. ​ 3. **How does business intrude into ecosystems? ​** - Business intrudes into ecosystems as it produces the things we want, but not all intrusions are justifiable. ​ 4. **What has been the traditional attitude of business toward the environment? ​** - Traditionally, business has regarded the natural world as a free and unlimited good, leading to pollution and the depletion of natural resources. ​ 5. **What is the \"tragedy of the commons\"? ​** - The \"tragedy of the commons\" refers to a situation where each person's or business's pursuit of self-interest can make everyone worse off, the reverse of Adam Smith's invisible hand. ​ 6. **What are spillovers or externalities? ​** - Spillovers or externalities are unintended costs to third parties from transactions, often overlooked by businesses. ​ 7. **How do businesses profit from products without considering social costs?** - Businesses often profit from products by overlooking the spillover effects, also known as externalities. - By focusing strictly on private industrial costs, businesses can derive profit without considering the overall social cost, such as environmental damage and negative impacts on human populations. 8. **What is the \"free rider\" problem in environmental protection? ​** - The \"free rider\" problem occurs when a company benefits from the efforts of others to prevent pollution but does not make the same effort itself. 9. **What are** **the ethical considerations regarding environmental protection?** - **Free Rider Problem**: Companies may benefit from others\' pollution prevention efforts without contributing themselves. - **Human Right to a Livable Environment**: Philosophers argue everyone has a right to a clean environment. - **Cost-Benefit Analysis**: Assessing pollution control costs involves complex judgments. - **Ecological Economics**: Values ecosystems based on the cost of their natural benefits. - **Responsibility for Costs**: Debate over whether polluters or beneficiaries should pay for pollution control. - **Future Generations**: Ethical duty to preserve the environment for future generations. - **Intrinsic Value of Nature**: Some argue nature has value beyond human use. - **Animal Welfare**: Business practices impact animal welfare, raising moral concerns. 10. **Who should bear the costs of pollution control?** - There are two popular answers to this question: 1. Those responsible for causing the pollution ought to pay. ​ 2. Those who stand to benefit from protection and restoration should pick up the tab. ​ 11. **What are the arguments for and against businesses paying for pollution control?** - **For:** - Businesses have profited greatly from treating the environment as a free good, so they should bear the costs of pollution control. ​ - **Against:** - Some argue that consumers should pay because they create demand for products whose production impairs the environment. ​ However, this argument fails to recognize the deep-rooted causes of pollution, such as population growth, increasing urbanization, and rising affluence. ​ 12. **How does population growth contribute to pollution?** - Population growth contributes to pollution by increasing the demand for resources and products, leading to more production and consumption. ​ This, in turn, results in higher levels of waste and emissions, straining the environment. 13. **What are the benefits of environmental protection for individuals and institutions?** ​ - Environmental protection benefits individuals and institutions by ensuring a healthier and more sustainable environment. This can lead to improved public health, preservation of natural resources, and enhanced quality of life. Additionally, it can foster economic stability by preventing the depletion of resources that businesses and communities rely on. 14. **How can the costs of pollution control be determined?** - The costs of pollution control can be determined through cost-benefit analysis, which involves assessing the financial costs of implementing pollution control measures against the benefits of a cleaner environment. ​ This analysis is complex and involves controversial factual assessments and value judgments. 15. **What is ecological economics?** - Ecological economics is a discipline that attempts to expand the boundaries of environmental cost-benefit analysis. ​ 16. **How does ecological economics calculate the value of ecosystems?** - It calculates the value of an ecosystem in terms of what it would cost to provide the benefits and services it now furnishes us. ​ For example, it assesses the worth of a wetland based on the cost of constructing structures that provide the same flood control and storm protection that natural wetlands do. 17. **What are the drawbacks of using regulations to achieve environmental goals?** - **Feasibility Issues:** Requiring firms to use the strongest feasible means of pollution control can be problematic. - **Uniform Treatment:** Regulations treat all parties equally, often ignoring the special circumstances of particular industries and firms. - **Minimum Compliance:** Regulations can remove the incentive for firms to exceed the minimum required standards. - **Economic Impact:** Regulations can cause plants to shut down or relocate, affecting the economy and employment. 18. **What are the advantages and disadvantages of using incentives for environmental improvement?** - **Advantages:** - **Minimized Interference:** Incentives reduce regulatory interference and coercion. - **Encouragement:** They encourage businesses to adopt environmentally friendly practices voluntarily. - **Disadvantages:** ​ - **Slow Progress:** Incentives can move slowly in achieving environmental goals. ​ - **Cost-Effectiveness:** They may not always be cost-effective. ​ - **Paying Polluters:** Incentives can result in paying polluters not to pollute, which some see as unfair. 19. **What are pricing mechanisms or effluent charges?** - Pricing mechanisms, or effluent charges, are fees imposed on the discharge of pollutants. ​ These charges are tied to the amount of damage caused by the pollution and can vary based on location and time. ​ They aim to internalize the cost of pollution, making it financially disadvantageous for companies to pollute. 20. **What are pollution permits, and how do they work?** - Pollution permits are allowances given to companies that enable them to discharge a specific amount of pollution. ​ Companies can trade these permits with other companies. ​ This system creates a market for pollution rights, incentivizing companies to reduce emissions if they can do so at a lower cost than purchasing additional permits. 21. **What are the moral objections to pollution permits?** - The primary moral objection to pollution permits is that they imply a right to pollute, which many consider immoral. ​ Critics argue that it commodifies pollution and allows companies to buy their way out of environmental responsibility rather than reducing their emissions. 22. **How does America's consumption of nonrenewable resources affect foreign lands?** - America\'s high consumption of nonrenewable resources often leads to the exploitation of foreign lands to secure these resources. ​ This can result in environmental degradation, depletion of local resources, and negative impacts on the local communities and ecosystems in those foreign lands. 23. **What are the moral questions raised by America's consumption of foreign resources?** - **Securing Resources:** - How should the continued availability of foreign resources be ensured ethically? - **Consumption Rights:** - Does any nation have the right to consume the world\'s irreplaceable resources at a rate disproportionate to its population size? These questions challenge the fairness and sustainability of such consumption practices and raise concerns about the long-term impacts on global equity and environmental health. 24. **What are our obligations to future generations regarding the environment? ​** Our obligations to future generations include: - **Respecting Rights:** Ensuring that future generations inherit an environment that is not seriously damaged. ​ - **Balancing Interests:** Considering the interests of future generations when making environmental decisions, often by putting ourselves in their position to balance our current needs against their future needs. ​ 25. **What is the value of nature from a non-anthropocentric perspective? ​** - From a non-anthropocentric perspective, the value of nature is intrinsic, meaning it has worth independent of its utility to humans. ​ This perspective challenges the human-centered view and suggests that nature should be preserved and respected for its own sake, not just for the benefits it provides to humans. ​ 26. **How does business affect the welfare of animals, and what are the ethical considerations? ​** **Business affects the welfare of animals in several ways:** ​ - **Experimentation and Testing:** Animals are often used in experiments and product testing, which raises ethical concerns about their suffering and rights. ​ - **Factory Farming:** The production of animal-related products, particularly meat, often involves practices that many consider cruel and immoral. ​ **Ethical Considerations:** - **Moral Rights:** Critics argue that animals have moral rights that should be respected, and many experiments and farming practices are unjustified on moral grounds. ​ - **Utilitarian Perspective:** Utilitarians stress the importance of considering animal pain and suffering, advocating for practices that minimize harm to animals. ​ More Questions ============== **Corporate Moral Agency ​** 1. **What is the concept of corporations as legal persons? ​** - Corporations are considered legal persons, enjoying rights and protections similar to those of ordinary individuals. ​ 2. **What rights do corporations enjoy as legal persons? ​** - Rights include free speech, due process, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, jury trial, and freedom from double jeopardy. ​ 3. **What is the debate over corporations as moral agents? ​** - The debate centers on whether corporations can make moral decisions and be held morally responsible for their actions. ​ 4. **How does the corporate internal decision (CID) structure affect moral decision-making? ​** - The CID structure can make it difficult to assign individual responsibility for corporate outcomes. ​ 5. **What is the issue of vanishing individual responsibility in corporations? ​** - The structure of modern corporations contributes to the diffusion of responsibility, making it hard to hold any particular person(s) morally responsible. ​ 6. **How can moral agency be attributed to corporations? ​** - One response is to attribute moral agency to the corporation itself, while another is to refuse to let individuals duck their personal responsibility. ​ **Rival Views of Corporate Responsibility ​** 1. **What is the narrow view of corporate responsibility?** - The narrow view, as argued by Milton Friedman, is that a corporation's only social responsibility is to make money within the rules of the game. ​ 2. **What is the broader view of corporate social responsibility? ​** - The broader view includes acting morally, refraining from socially undesirable behavior, and contributing actively and directly to the public good. ​ 3. **How does the relationship between business and society function as a social contract? ​** - It requires business to operate in socially beneficial ways and take responsibility for the unintended side effects of their business transactions. ​ 4. **What are the arguments for and against profit maximization as the sole responsibility of corporations? ​** - Proponents argue it makes the economic system more efficient, while opponents argue that corporations have obligations to other constituencies as well. ​ 5. **How do proponents of the broader view of corporate responsibility argue their case? ​** - They argue that management has responsibilities to employees, bondholders, consumers, and the public at large, not just stockholders. ​ 6. **Who controls the corporation, according to most business observers? ​** - Management handpicks the board of directors, thus controlling the body that is supposed to police it. ​ **Debating Corporate Responsibility ​** 1. **What is the invisible-hand argument regarding corporate responsibility? ​** - The argument suggests that corporations should not be held accountable for non-economic matters as it distorts business's mission and undermines the free-enterprise system. ​ Sure, continuing with the questions and answers: **Debating Corporate Responsibility ​** 2. **What is the objection to the invisible-hand argument? ​** - The objection is that it does not apply to modern conditions in the free market, where corporations are extremely powerful and are pressured by public opinion to present themselves as responsible citizens. ​ 3. **What is the let-government-do-it argument? ​** - This argument suggests that corporations have a natural and insatiable appetite for profit and should be controlled through a government-imposed system of laws and incentives. ​ 4. **What is the objection to the let-government-do-it argument? ​** - The objection is that the government cannot anticipate all moral corporate challenges and manifests many of the same structural characteristics that test moral behavior inside corporations. ​ 5. **What is the business-can't-handle-it argument? ​** - This argument posits that corporate executives lack the moral and social expertise to make other-than-economic decisions and that broadening corporate responsibility will materialize society rather than moralize corporate activity. ​ 6. **What is the objection to the first part of the business-can't-handle-it argument? ​** - The objection is that the social role of corporations does not confine their responsibilities to profit-making, and often only businesses have the know-how, talent, experience, and organizational resources to tackle problems. ​ 7. **What is the objection to the second part of the business-can't-handle-it argument? ​** - The objection is that corporations already promote consumerism and materialism, and from a broader view of responsibility, they are unlikely to have a more materialistic effect on society. ​ **Institutionalizing Ethics Within Corporations ​** 1. **What steps should corporations take to institutionalize ethics? ​** - Corporations should: 1. Acknowledge the importance of conducting business morally. ​ 2. Encourage their members to take moral responsibilities seriously. ​ 3. End their defensiveness in the face of criticism and invite public discussion and review. ​ 4. Recognize the pluralistic nature of the social system of which they are a part. ​ 2. **What are the limits to what the law can achieve in controlling business practices? ​** - The law is limited because: 5. Many laws are passed only after there is general awareness of the problem. ​ 6. It is difficult to design effective regulations and appropriate laws. ​ 7. Enforcing the law is often cumbersome. ​ 3. **How can ethical codes contribute to business efficiency? ​** - Ethical codes can contribute to business efficiency by fostering public trust and confidence, and by addressing situations where costs are not paid for or where the buyer lacks the expertise and knowledge of the seller. ​ 4. **What steps should companies take to institutionalize ethics? ​** - Companies should: 8. Articulate the firm's values and goals. ​ 9. Adopt a moral code applicable to all members of the company. ​ 10. Set up a high-ranking ethics committee to oversee, develop, and enforce the code. ​ 11. Incorporate ethics training into all employee-development programs. ​ 5. **What is corporate culture? ​** - Corporate culture is the set of explicit and implicit values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape the experiences of the members of a corporation. ​ 6. **Why is it important for management to monitor and manage corporate culture? ​** - It is important to prevent dysfunctional behavior and processes and to ensure that the values and behavior reinforced by the corporate culture align with ethical standards. ​ **Business and Ecology (continued) ​** 1. **What are the responsibilities of businesses regarding the environment? ​** - Businesses have responsibilities to protect the environment, plants, animals, and all other resources, considering the effects of environmental recklessness. ​ 2. **What is the \"tragedy of the commons\" in environmental terms? ​** - It refers to the situation where individual or business pursuit of self-interest leads to the depletion of shared resources, making everyone worse off. ​ 3. **What is the \"free rider\" problem in environmental protection? ​** - It occurs when a company benefits from the efforts of others to prevent pollution but does not make the same effort itself. ​ 4. **What are the questions about the costs of pollution control? ​** - The questions include what kind of environment we want and what is required to bring about that environment. ​ 5. **What is cost-benefit analysis in pollution control? ​** - Cost-benefit analysis involves determining the costs of pollution control, which is difficult due to controversial factual assessments and value judgments. ​ 6. **What is ecological economics? ​** - Ecological economics is a discipline that attempts to expand the boundaries of environmental cost-benefit analysis by calculating the value of an ecosystem in terms of the benefits and services it provides. ​ 7. **Who should pay the cost of pollution control? ​** - This is a question of social justice, with two popular answers: those responsible for causing the pollution or those who stand to benefit from protection and restoration. ​ 8. **What are the arguments for and against businesses paying for pollution control?** - Some argue businesses should pay because they have profited from treating the environment as a free good, while others argue consumers should pay because they create demand for products that impair the environment. ​ 9. **What are the drawbacks of using regulations to achieve environmental goals? ​** - Drawbacks include requiring firms to use the strongest feasible means of pollution control, treating all parties equally but ignoring special circumstances, removing incentives to do more than the minimum required, and potentially causing plants to shut down or relocate. 10. **What are the advantages and disadvantages of using incentives for environmental improvement? ​** - Advantages include minimizing regulatory interference and coercion, while disadvantages include moving slowly, paying polluters not to pollute, and not always being cost-effective. ​ 11. **What are pricing mechanisms or effluent charges? ​** - Pricing mechanisms or effluent charges spell out the cost for a specific kind of pollution in a specific area at a specific time, with prices tied to the amount of damage caused. ​ 12. **What are pollution permits? ​** - Pollution permits allow companies to discharge a limited amount of pollution or trade pollution \"rights\" with other companies. ​ 13. **What are the moral questions raised by America\'s consumption of foreign resources? ​** - The questions include how the continued availability of foreign resources is to be secured and whether any nation has the right to consume the world's irreplaceable resources at a rate grossly out of proportion to its population size. ​ 14. **What are the obligations to future generations regarding the environment? ​** - Some argue we must respect the right of future generations to inherit an environment that is not seriously damaged, while others suggest balancing our interests against those of our descendants. ​ 15. **What is the radical approach to environmental ethics? ​** - The radical approach challenges the human-centered assumption that preserving the environment is good only because it is good for us, suggesting that nature has intrinsic value. ​ 16. **How does business affect the welfare of animals? ​** - Business affects animals through experimentation, testing of products, and factory farming, which critics argue can be cruel and immoral. ​ 17. **What are the ethical considerations regarding factory farming? ​** - Ethical considerations include whether animals have moral rights and whether the treatment of animals in factory farming is justified. ​