Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Bumface
^Agreed. The free market system works great, except when it comes to pricing in side effects of producing goods.
If environmental and human impacts (worker's rights etc) could be priced into everything, the world would be pretty great.
|
Could you imagine how hard that would be? Take something as common as a cell phone. How were the precious metals mined? Did the country use poorly paid labour? Did they have proper environmental treatment through the process? Safety standards? What about the plastic bits? Did the oil come from Saudi Arabia, or Nigeria? Which is worse? How do you quantify that? Even factoring in the CO2 commissions for production would be incredibly difficult, considering all the different parts. Is the power used in production hydro, or coal? If it's hydro for 2/3rds of the year, and coal for the rest, does a September phone cost more than a March one? And do you tax it more in Ontario than Vancouver, if it has to travel further? What about disposal and recycling?
Sure, you could create average values for a specific item, like all phones have $80, but then you don't incentivize reducing externalities.
It's a great idea in theory. In practice, it would be a nightmare to attempt to quantify, track, and bill all externalities for everything we purchase.