In each case listed below, can you rationalize the government policy on the basis of welfare economics?
a. In Los Angeles, the police respond to 127,000 burglar alarm calls per year. There is no charge. (Ninety- seven percent of the alarms are false.)
b. In 2011, the National Endowment for the Humanities provided $ 550,000 for the production of a documentary film on how rock music contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union. c. The federal government regulates cherry frozen fruit pies, requiring that at least 25 percent of each pie by weight contain cherries and that no more than 15 percent of the cherries be blemished. There are no such regulations for apple, blueberry, or peach frozen pies.
d. Legislation passed in 2008 guarantees American sugar producers 85 percent of the domestic sugar market.
e. The National Energy Policy Act requires that all new toilets flush with only 1.6 gallons of water. Most American homes have toilets that consume 5.5 to 7 gallons per flush.
f. A federal agency provided over $ 100,000 to a video game preservation center in New York to “further its efforts to archive and preserve video game history.”