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Handing money to polluters helps polluters, and failing to disincentivize externalities also helps polluters, but it's OK to call one thing a subsidy and the ot
by sooheon 7y ago
Handing money to polluters helps polluters, and failing to disincentivize externalities also helps polluters, but it's OK to call one thing a subsidy and the other thing poor governance.
"Subsidy" carries a connotation of purposeful action to help something. Subsidizing a bad thing is worse than merely allowing it to happen or looking the other way. It seems like you want to re-label things in "B" by the label for "A" to make it sound worse.
- DoctorOetker 7y ago>"Subsidy" carries a connotation of purposeful action to help something. Purpouseful action implies awareness and intention. Externality implies not yet recognized. Having 2 words for similar concepts does not mean they are different concepts. "heavy" and "massive" are two different words but they convey essentially the same thing. I would agree that unrecognized externalities are not subsidies, say CO2 pollution before it was recognized, but then again since they were literally not recognized as externalities (yet). But the very moment CO2 pollution is recognized, the previously unrecognized externality is to be instantly viewed as a subsidy. History repeats itself, the first time as a tragedy, from then on as a farce.