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The problem with cars is that they are great for individuals, but terrible for society. For individuals, they greatly increase your mobility and open new possi
by mrunkel 7y ago
The problem with cars is that they are great for individuals, but terrible for society.
For individuals, they greatly increase your mobility and open new possibilities.
For societies, they are loud, dirty, dangerous, and require expensive roads which take up large swaths of land.
It is this dichotomy that prevents us as humans from properly understanding the cost of the vehicles we drive. I see all over this thread people calculating the cost of their vehicle in dollars, but this grossly underestimates the cost to society as a whole.
In regards to the article, how much visibility do western analysts have into the Chinese automotive market? If domestic sales aren’t accurately monitored, this would explain why the Chinese market has dropped.
- 1123581321 7y agoSociety also benefits from individuals having increased mobility and the options that brings.
- wutbrodo 7y agoWell obviously, as societal utility is the aggregate of individual utility. The point was about the parts of the utility (or disutility) equations that are hidden from individuals.
- Sharlin 7y agoCars are a textbook example of the tragedy of the commons. Everybody would personally benefit if everyone else drove less, as long as they themselves can keep driving. Capitalism is exceedingly poor at accounting for negative externalities, and many armchair economists don't seem to even acknowledge negative externalities exist because they are a "hidden" cost not determined by the market and paid by third parties. Any economist worth their salt, of course, says that as a mechanism created specifically to solve coordination problems like this, it's the government's job to put a real price on negative externalities.
- hedora 7y agoTrains, electric scooters (think Vespa, not Lime) and electric rickshaws are all extremely popular in China. If we changed traffic laws (and automotive subsidies) in the US to make them more feasible in cities, I imagine small electric vehicles would take a huge dent out of the automotive industry here.