Well don't you forget that cars are built by companies that try to
please consumers? If 50% of all people voluntarily bought low-pollutions
cars then there is a good probability that it would be more difficult to
find high-pollutions cars. The good product would, at least gradually,
chase the bad product.
=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jacob_Wimpffen_Br=E6strup?= a *crit :
>
> You wrote:
>
> 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*?
>
> No, I think the opposite would be the case. We are probably more in the
> domain of "emotions" rather than (simple) economics. If half the population
> CHOSE to buy low-pollution cars (presumably against their "real" wants) then
> they would most likely also frown upon the people who did not. There would
> thus be a stigma connected with driving high-pollution cars, which would
> translate into an economic cost for the drivers, reducing their benefit -
> and inducing them to change too. This could have a reinforcing effect since
> "ex-high-pollution-vehicle-drivers" (who had been pressed into changing to
> lower-pollution cars) would probably be among the most aggressive
> anti-pollution advocates (just like ex-smokers...)
>
> I could easily imagine that this could continue even beyond the point where
> pollution (from cars) was LESS than optimal.
>
> Jacob W Braestrup
> Denmark
>
> 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*
