Editing Externality (section)

==== Positive consumption externalities ====
Examples of '''positive consumption externalities''' include:
* An individual who maintains an attractive house may confer benefits to neighbors in the form of increased [[real estate appraisal|market values]] for their properties. This is an example of a pecuniary externality, because the positive spillover is accounted for in market prices. In this case, house prices in the neighborhood will increase to match the increased real estate value from maintaining their aesthetic. (such as by mowing the lawn, keeping the trash orderly, and getting the house painted) <ref>{{cite web |last1=Samwick |title=What Pecuniary Externalities? |url=https://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/01/what_pecuniary_.html |website=Economist's View |access-date=8 November 2020}}</ref>
* Anything that reduces the rate of transmission of an infectious disease carries positive externalities.  This includes vaccines, quarantine, tests and other diagnostic procedures.  For airborne [[infection]]s, it also includes masking.  For waterborne diseases, it includes improved sewers and sanitation.<ref><!-- Externalities, public goods, and infectious diseases -->{{cite Q|Q111367750}}</ref> (See ''[[herd immunity]]'')
* Increased [[education]] of individuals, as this can lead to broader society benefits in the form of greater economic [[productivity]], a lower [[employment-to-population ratio|unemployment rate]], greater household mobility and higher rates of [[participation (decision making)|political participation]].<ref>Weisbrod, Burton, 1962. External Benefits of Public Education, Princeton University{{page needed|date=April 2019}}</ref>
* An individual buying a product that is interconnected in a network (e.g., a [[smartphone]]). This will increase the usefulness of such phones to other people who have a video cellphone. When each new user of a product increases the value of the same product owned by others, the phenomenon is called a network externality or a [[network effect]].  Network externalities often have "[[:wikt:tipping point|tipping points]]" where, suddenly, the product reaches general acceptance and near-universal usage.
* In an area that does not have a [[public sector|public]] [[fire department]], homeowners who purchase [[private sector|private]] fire protection services provide a positive externality to neighboring properties, which are less at risk of the protected neighbor's fire spreading to their (unprotected) house.

Collective solutions or [[public policy|public policies]] are implemented to [[regulation|regulate]] activities with positive or negative externalities.