Market Failure

Every student is required to complete a short paper on a housing topic of his or her choice. Papers are expected to be about 10 to 15 pages long, with citations of at least 10 different sources. Whatever topic you choose, you can consider organizing your paper along with the following lines: • Issue Scoping: What is the specific economic or policy issue you are concerned with? Is there a market failure involved? Who is most/least affected? Is it more an issue of efficiency, equity or both? Is it a national issue, a state issue, or a series of local issues? Which levels of government should most appropriately have jurisdiction? What policy changes, approaches, or solutions have been proposed to deal with the problem? • Literature Review: What does the theoretical (economics) literature say about this issue? About the cause, extent, and nature of the problem? Are there any empirical studies of the problem or issue? Have there been any evaluative studies undertaken of the problem/issue, or of potential policy approaches? • Alternative Analysis (Optional, depending on the question): suggest a few (more than one, less than five) alternative policy approaches for dealing with the problem or issue. Suggest both economic and non-economic criteria for evaluating those approaches. Using the economic criteria, evaluate the pros and cons of each alternative. Then consider the non-economic criteria. • Conclusion: Develop a conclusion and set of recommendations, including maybe, do nothing, or, there really is no issue here.