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* European double-pane sash windows: Effectively banned by various regulations * American double-pane sash windows on hardware store shelf: $100 * European tr
by mapt 2y ago
* European double-pane sash windows: Effectively banned by various regulations
* American double-pane sash windows on hardware store shelf: $100
* European triple-pane tilt turn windows, on hardware store shelf: $200
* American triple-pane tilt turn windows, 'call for quote': $900
...
* No Salt Added Snacks in the health food section for 10% of people: $4
* Lots of Salt Added Snacks in the main section for 30% of people: $2
* The 60% of people who would prefer a moderate amount of salt for $2: Not a part of the Nash Equilibrium
There are all sorts of areas where the market offers suboptimal choices because consumer pricing, availability, product segmentation, and market segmentation is a game that is somewhat orthogonal to the range of consumers' ideal outcomes. Sometimes, regulation significantly improves those outcomes in a way that prices cannot. Banning slave labor is one example where it would be a significant benefit for a trivial cost, but the market absolutely isn't structured to pay that cost using higher prices.
Externalities not paid by consumer or manufacturer is one category of those benefits to examine, but there are many more.