Suppose You Attend a Town Meeting at Which Some Experts

question 14

Multiple Choice

Suppose you attend a town meeting at which some experts tell the audience that they have performed a cost-benefit analysis of a proposed transit system that would probably reduce overall air pollution and fossil fuel consumption. The analysis, however, reveals that ticket prices will not cover the cost of operating the system when fuel, wages, and equipment are taken into account. As a biologist, you know that if ecosystem services had been included in the analysis, the experts might have arrived at a different answer. Why are ecosystem services rarely included in economic analyses?

• A) Federal laws of the United States exclude their inclusion in any cost benefit analysis.
• B) They have a low value and are usually not cost effective.
• C) Ecosystem services only take into account abiotic factors that affect local environments.
• D) Their cost is difficult to estimate, and people take them for granted.

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Definitions:

Sociological Theories

Frameworks for understanding how individuals interact within societies, institutions, and groups, explaining social behavior and phenomena.

Elaborate Descriptions

Detailed and thorough explanations or accounts of objects, events, or concepts.

Sociological Imagination

The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society, a concept introduced by C. Wright Mills.

Social Structures

are relatively stable patterns of social relations.