2021, Set 2, Question 2 · Short · 5 points
Copper mining pollution and corrective taxes
Graph a market with a constant external cost showing the market and socially efficient quantities, then shade the deadweight loss after demand falls. Name the per-unit tax that reaches the efficient output and explain why a one-time flat tax would not.
This exam had three free-response questions in a 60 minute section (10 minutes of reading and 50 of writing), with about half the time suggested for Question 1 and the rest split evenly between Questions 2 and 3, and the scoring guidelines label Question 1 long and Questions 2 and 3 short. The current exam has 3 free-response questions in 60 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.
Lessons this question draws on
1 Read the question
The question is College Board's, from the 2021, Set 2 exam. It starts on page 4 of the PDF. College Board no longer posts this exam, so it opens from the copy of College Board's PDF that the Internet Archive saved on December 20, 2025.
2 Write your answer
Answer each part the way you would on the exam, in full sentences, with your work shown. Your writing saves as you type.
3 Score it
Score your answer against College Board's scoring guidelines, one point at a time. Give yourself a point only when your answer says what the guideline asks for.
Scoring guidelines (PDF, page 5) What the exam readers saw (Chief Reader report)
Question, scoring guidelines and Chief Reader report: College Board, from the Internet Archive. The title, summary are ours.