3 ms·

Taxing something in proportion to its external costs isn't picking a loser, it's levelling the playing field. OTOH, subsidizing particular manufacturers of sol

by tupuli 14y ago

Taxing something in proportion to its external costs isn't picking a loser, it's levelling the playing field. OTOH, subsidizing particular manufacturers of solar panels or electric cars puts all other alternatives at a disadvantage. BTW, you've failed to substantiate your claim that the market fails to pick efficient winners and losers. How would you even define "efficient" without appealing to the marketplace?

rayiner 14y ago
> Taxing something in proportion to its external costs isn't picking a loser, it's levelling the playing field Clever rhetorical trick. > BTW, you've failed to substantiate your claim that the market fails to pick efficient winners and losers. How would you even define "efficient" without appealing to the marketplace? It's not a claim that requires substantiation, it's common knowledge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_failure#Externalities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_failure#Externalities
- anamax 14y ago
  It's also common knowledge that govts don't actually handle exernalities all that well. In fact, they often make things worse. And then there's the whole "regulatory capture" thing. Govts fail all the time.
  - rayiner 14y ago
    I don't disagree with those things, but the meme "government shouldn't pick winners and losers" doesn't capture any of those points. In the debate, Romney said in the same spiel that the free market always works better.
    - anamax 14y ago
      > Romney said in the same spiel that the free market always works better. And he's right because the free market has far more diversity. To put it another way, govt is pretty much the definition of systemic risk. The free market has folks doing lots of different things. Some think that electric cars are the way to go while others stick with gas. Still others go with compressed air. Govts don't make diverse bets and they're a lot slower to change course when things don't work (because the folks benefiting from the current plan aren't paying its costs). Yes, "all the wood behind one arrow" can be more efficient, but only when everything works out, which is not all that often. "Let 1000 flowers bloom" works much better in the real world.

by tupuli 14y ago

rayiner 14y ago

> Taxing something in proportion to its external costs isn't picking a loser, it's levelling the playing field Clever rhetorical trick. > BTW, you've failed to substantiate your claim that the market fails to pick efficient winners and losers. How would you even define "efficient" without appealing to the marketplace? It's not a claim that requires substantiation, it's common knowledge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_failure#Externalities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_failure#Externalities

anamax 14y ago
It's also common knowledge that govts don't actually handle exernalities all that well. In fact, they often make things worse. And then there's the whole "regulatory capture" thing. Govts fail all the time.
- rayiner 14y ago
  I don't disagree with those things, but the meme "government shouldn't pick winners and losers" doesn't capture any of those points. In the debate, Romney said in the same spiel that the free market always works better.
  - anamax 14y ago
    > Romney said in the same spiel that the free market always works better. And he's right because the free market has far more diversity. To put it another way, govt is pretty much the definition of systemic risk. The free market has folks doing lots of different things. Some think that electric cars are the way to go while others stick with gas. Still others go with compressed air. Govts don't make diverse bets and they're a lot slower to change course when things don't work (because the folks benefiting from the current plan aren't paying its costs). Yes, "all the wood behind one arrow" can be more efficient, but only when everything works out, which is not all that often. "Let 1000 flowers bloom" works much better in the real world.