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No, just tax or outlaw this behavior, don't nationalize industries. There is an intellectual framework in place for making sense of leaded petrol in the contex
by fighterpilot 5y ago
No, just tax or outlaw this behavior, don't nationalize industries.
There is an intellectual framework in place for making sense of leaded petrol in the context of markets, and that's externalities. It is no different in concept to noise pollution, carbon pollution, or other types of externalities, it is just one that's significantly worse.
Leaded petrol is at best a negative externality which should be taxed, and probably should just be considered physical assault similar to punching someone in the face (the user of the petrol is giving others literal brain damage) and totally banned and criminalized.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoSo we should just stop using airplanes because their fuel has lead in it? What?
- roamerz 5y agoYes - brought to you by the same people that would stop you from eating beef because cows fart. From a tech perspective tetraethyl lead also has lubricative properties that add to exhaust valve longevity under high temperature conditions which may be one of the reasons it took so long to disappear.
- nate_meurer 5y agoNo, this is a myth. In reality, lead fouling decreases engine performance and longevity. From https://www.shell.com/business-customers/aviation/aeroshell/knowledge-centre/technical-talk/techart-18-30071600.html https://www.shell.com/business-customers/aviation/aeroshell/...: "The temperature for Lead deposits to form tend to be favourable around the spark plugs (as the whole mixture is quite cool before the flame starts to propagate) and on the exhaust valve stem (as the mixture cools after combustion). The problem is that the deposits are electrically conductive, which shorts out the spark plug - and corrosive, which can start to attack the metal of the valve stems."