1 - It would require a huge amount of state intervention to implement.
We are already essentially using electronic money, and the cost of compute resources is getting cheaper by the day. I already get nicely itemized statements from my credit card and bank. The cost of implementing it is minimal, and no government intervention is needed. Its just a matter of tracking some additional data bytes to what is already tracked.
That additional data would be enormously hard to figure. Not letting people bypass the system for their transactions would require strong controls. Imposing the cost entailed in that "additional data" would in and of itself amount to a large state intervention.
The eventual real or potential costs are probably too complicated to figure out even after the fact. And reasonably to impose the cost for actions taken today I think you should have to be able to at least approximate the cost before the fact.
Thats what marketplaces are all about amigo!
Marketplaces are not about imposing a fine based on real, potential or imagined social, environmental, or even economic costs of the future results of today's actions on to the actor.
Markets are about supply meeting demand, with price being the signal of both.
The value of some benefit, and the cost of some harm, is in many ways subjective. If I want to sell something I can give you the price and you can decide if you want to pay it or not. If the price is subjected to retro-active adjustment you do a great deal of damage to the pricing mechanism and thus to the economy. If people don't know what they have to pay for something the market lacks transparency. Risk is greatly increased. Productive economic activity will be greatly decreased.
Also its not just the level of cost that is an issue but who should pay it. If I own a store and I sell you some detergent, and it is determined that the bleach later causes environmental harm, do you pay the cost? Do I? Does my wholesaler? Does the importer who brought it in to the country? Does the foreign manufacturer? Does some testing or approving agency or company that said it was safe? What if the manufacturer's country doesn't have laws for imposing such costs?
BTW, there is no problem with figuring out downrange effects, because they are always subject to market revision.
1 - But I have to choose my actions now. I have to know the cost of my purchases, not later find out that I have to pay 20 times as much. Would you like to buy my new car? Its pretty nice. How much? I'll tell you after you buy it...
2 - What if they are revised to the extent that I am destitute and die, and then we find out it was an error and my actions where actually positive? Do I care if my heirs get millions? What if I don't have heirs?
3 - If I am dead the adjustments can't be applied to me. My heirs are not me and it is an injustice to apply the costs to them for something they didn't do.
Tim |
