1. In your words, compare and contrast a positive and a negative externality. Be sure to provide an example for each. How does a positive or negative externality affect the market outcome? Is it possible for a government's solution to a market failure to actually worsen the failure? Explain your answer.

2. What are the differences among horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers? What does the U.S. government hope to achieve through the use of its antitrust policy? How does international competition affect domestic antirust policy? How do the resolutions of the IBM®, AT&T®, and Microsoft® antitrust cases differ?

3. Describe the cost- benefit approach that a typical economist takes to analyze regulations. How are economic policies impacted by politics, and how can politics make a positive or a negative contribution to economic policy?