Tuesday, June 29, 2004
A realization
A lot of people thing the government is stoopid, therefore if they're taxing you and giving you money for other things, they have to be doing something wrong because otherwise you'd be doing it yourself. Problem with this assertation: it fails to recognize externalities which result in a non-pareto outcome. In other words, everyone can be made better off if you can force people to behave in certain ways, even though they don't realize it. Think of fishers in the Atlantic, or polluters.
Ah, the joys of studying for an econ final.
Ah, the joys of studying for an econ final.
