Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Externality
The recent mass food poisoning case at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market is an example of an externality in Singapore, and in this case, a negative externality. When we talk about negative externality, we are referring to "a cost of an activity that falls on people other than those who pursue the activity (Frank & Bernanke, 2007). In simpler form, it otherwise means that an activity originally carried out by you not only impacted yourself but others who were not involved in this activity.
In this situation, the Indian rojak stall located at Rojak Geylang Serai had a price to pay for the food poisoning incident. Two women have died, 48 patients hospitalised, one woman who was two months pregnant miscarried and a over 146 cases of food poisoning has been reported (Ong & Low, 2009)
It may be due to the poor hygiene practices or improper food practices carried out by the workers of the rojak stall that caused this incident. With regards to this incident, the Indian rojak stall was not the only stall affected. In fact, parties who were not involved in the food poisoning case were inadvertently affected as well. All stalls were affected as the entire market had to be close down for inspection by the National Environmental Agency (NEA). Customers who were intending to make a trip down for a meal at the market had to eat somewhere else.
Stalls lose businesses due to the shut down, and this implies a loss of revenue. To some, this might not be an issue for them but to those whose income is solely based on this stall business, their livelihood is affected. In other words, these stalls were not involved in activity (food poisoning incident) yet they have to suffer the cost of being closed down for inspection.
NEA has stepped in to improve hygiene standard. There has been intentions to penalise stalls with grades Cs and Ds. Once more, other stalls are being affected as well.
Mabel Ong
BZSE T02 Labels: externality
We Loved10:22 PM
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