Suppose 50% of all people voluntarily buy low-pollution cars to "do
their part" for clean air.
Can anyone think up plausible mechanisms whereby their choice would
induce other people to pollute *more*?
The main mechanism I can think of is just crowding out of altruism. The
more people contribute to solve a problem, the smaller the problem gets,
and the less other altruists want to contribute.
But let's keep the logic of collective action in mind here - If selfish
people are already polluting to the point where the MB are approximately
0, where is the elasticity, if any?
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"[T]he power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in
those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous."
-- Edward Gibbon, *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*
