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>Isn't that how market economies are supposed to work? Well people are supposed to be able to vote with their wallet, and reward businesses that supply what th

>Isn't that how market economies are supposed to work? Well people are supposed to be able to vote with their wallet, and reward businesses that supply what the customer wants. This assumes perfect knowledge from the consumer though. And actionable signals. The question is, do consumers value a printer with a usb port, how much is it worth to them, do they have a choice in the matter? You could view your chocolate example the other way. If you do like palm oil in your chocolate, you don't have the option of buying it. 'ideally' there would be a palm oil alternative so that consumers have a choice. But this also highlights another shortcoming of the market economy. There are negative externalities to Palm oil production, externalities that the market seem incapable or unwilling to fix. I suppose you could argue that is why Germans don't want palm oil in their chocolate, but this isn't an outright ban, so palm oil could still pop up in other things.

eru 3y ago
> This assumes perfect knowledge from the consumer though. Not at all. Imperfect knowledge is enough most of the time. Consumers will reward companies that are transparent and trustworthy over a long time. > The question is, do consumers value a printer with a usb port, how much is it worth to them, do they have a choice in the matter? Indeed, consumers have to make their own trade-offs about whether they value having a USB-port. > If you do like palm oil in your chocolate, you don't have the option of buying it. It's legal, and available, if you look for it. (Even before the rule change in Germany it was legal, you were just banned from calling the product 'chocolate'.) > There are negative externalities to Palm oil production, externalities that the market seem incapable or unwilling to fix. Since those negative exernalities are still around, you could equally blame the government or Santa Claus for not fixing them. The 'market' does some of that fixing: customers who often pay a premium for 'ethically' sourced products that don't include palm oil. And there are producers who oblige them. Most, but not all, of those externalities occur in the palm oil producing countries. It would make sense for the people most affected to eg vote to put taxes and subsidies in place to internalise those externalities. (Alas, many of those places also have corrupt and incompetent governments.)
- account42 3y ago
  > Consumers will reward companies that are transparent and trustworthy over a long time. ROFL

eru 3y ago

> This assumes perfect knowledge from the consumer though. Not at all. Imperfect knowledge is enough most of the time. Consumers will reward companies that are transparent and trustworthy over a long time. > The question is, do consumers value a printer with a usb port, how much is it worth to them, do they have a choice in the matter? Indeed, consumers have to make their own trade-offs about whether they value having a USB-port. > If you do like palm oil in your chocolate, you don't have the option of buying it. It's legal, and available, if you look for it. (Even before the rule change in Germany it was legal, you were just banned from calling the product 'chocolate'.) > There are negative externalities to Palm oil production, externalities that the market seem incapable or unwilling to fix. Since those negative exernalities are still around, you could equally blame the government or Santa Claus for not fixing them. The 'market' does some of that fixing: customers who often pay a premium for 'ethically' sourced products that don't include palm oil. And there are producers who oblige them. Most, but not all, of those externalities occur in the palm oil producing countries. It would make sense for the people most affected to eg vote to put taxes and subsidies in place to internalise those externalities. (Alas, many of those places also have corrupt and incompetent governments.)

account42 3y ago
> Consumers will reward companies that are transparent and trustworthy over a long time. ROFL