A local town is under pressure from voters to close a polluting
factory. The head of the homeowner’s organization argues that the
pollution is a menace, and if the full external costs of the
pollution were calculated, the factory would not be profitable. The
homeowners calculate that the pollution generates an external cost
of $3,000,000 per year in medical bills and $1,000,000 per year in
suppressed property values, which reflects the difference in home
prices with and without pollution. That...