> It looks to me like outside this we there is a significant bunch of people who do not know or accept this. Actually, at some point I was pondering whether the

> It looks to me like outside this we there is a significant bunch of people who do not know or accept this. Actually, at some point I was pondering whether the main distinction [1] between conservative-populist movements and "the elite" these movements are against is exactly the point that "the elite" understands and acknowledges the concept of externality and wants to address this market failure with something, while the populists refuse to understand or accept the issue. If the populists refuse to understand or accept the issue, the population refuses to understand or accept the issue. It really depends on the population. Green parties are often pretty strong in wealthy European countries. Unfortunately, Greens also tend to be leftists that refuse whole idea of a free market. They'd rather ban things than handling externalities with prices. The other problem is that externalities are hard to price. If the price is too low, the problem isn't solved. If the price is too high, people won't want to pay it. In any event, the underlying problem isn't free markets itself, it's what the people want (or think they want).