A firm can produce steel with or without a filter on its smokestack. If it produces without a filter, the external costs on the community are $500,000 per year. If it produces with a filter, there are no external costs on the community, and the firm will incur an annual fixed cost of $300,000 for the filter.
a) Use the Coase Theorem to succinctly explain how costless bargaining will lead to a socially efficient outcome, regardless of whether the property rights are owned by the community or the producers.
b) How would your answer to part a) change if the fixed cost of the filter were $600,000?