The EPA wants to investigate the value workers place on being able to work in "clean" mines over "dirty" mines. The EPA conducts a study and finds the average annual wage in clean mines to be $42,250 and the average annual wage in dirty mines to be $47,250.
(a) According to the EPA, how much does the average worker value working in a clean mine?
(b) Suppose the EPA could mandate that all dirty mines become clean mines and that all workers who were in a dirty mine must therefore accept a $5,000 pay decrease. Are these workers helped by the intervention, hurt by the intervention, or indifferent to the intervention?