> Plausible, but then the question is: *why* do people have a disutility > of paying for toilets? Does this fit into any pattern of the sorts > of things people have a disutility of paying for?
As noted earlier, people did pay for toilets before and it is common in Europe. So it seems we are trying to pay for a rather specific fact, not a general disutility for paying for toilets. Let me also add a peice of anecdotal evidence that retailers offer free toilets to attact customers: A recent NPR show interviewed Hong Kong residents who said they would congregate in McDonald's in the 1960's becuase it was the only place open in the evening that was public, you could hang out and use the facilities. Eventually many such hang outs popped up all over Hong Kong. Fabio
