the city council wants to curb emissions by half and decides to auction off four permits, each of which entitles the bearer to emit 1 ton of smoke per day. no smoke may be emitted without a permit. suppose the government conducts the auction by starting at $1 and asking how many permits each firm wants to buy at that price. if the total is more than four, it then raises the price by $1 and asks again, and so on, until the total quantity of demanded permits falls to four.