In: Economics
Suppose the government levies an excise tax on buyers of large-carat diamond rings. Before the tax, 4,500 rings were sold per year at an average price of $40,000. With the tax in effect, 2,500 rings are sold, buyers pay on average $40,500 per ring, and sellers receive $36,000 per ring.
a. In the scenario above, what is the amount of the tax per ring? ($)
b. In the scenario above, buyers pay:
c. In the scenario above, what is the deadweight loss caused by the tax? ($ million)
a) Tax = 40500-36000 = 4500
b) Buyers pay = 500 or (40500-40000)/4500*100 = 11.11% of total tax
c) DWL = 0.5*(4500-2500)*4500 = 4.5 million