Thursday, August 29, 2002 :::
Re Ms. Malkin and High Theory, it's worth noting that Pigouvian taxes on actual externalities per se -- say, pollution in various forms that come out of a tailpipe -- can't produce unarguably unmitigated errors in policy the way that direct intervention -- say, telling the consumer how to achieve it -- can.
Obviously, I'm posting this as practice with the interface.
Before I hit post, though, I'll also note that taking energy from a form in which it's hard to carry around in your car into one in which it's easier is progress on that front. It's liable to be regress on others, though, if you're losing that much of your energy in the process. As I was saying about Pigouvian taxes, though, giving the markets a shove at the consumer end leaves them free to figure out whether or not the one is worth the other.
::: posted by dWj at 3:23 PM
