To meet its commitments under the Montreal Protocol, the United States implemented certain market-based policy instruments, including an excise tax on ozone depleters. Consider the following market for CFC-12 before the excise tax is imposed, where P is price per pound. 

Demand: Q = 18.40 – 0.5P

Supply: Q = 10.00 + 2.5P                      

Now assume that a 60 cent excise tax is used, which shifts the supply curve to Q′ = 8.50 + 2.5P. 

a. Find the equilibrium price before and after the tax is implemented. 

b. What do you conclude about who bears the primary burden of the tax - buyers or sellers? Briefly explain the economic sense of this outcome in this particular context.