July 3, 2008
jk, this one is for you
With all the talk about Pigouvian taxation, I thought I would highlight Bryan Caplan's recent thoughts:
I'm not going to say that Pigovianism is inherently totalitarian. But I will say that if intolerant preferences are widespread, then Pigovian thinking justifies totalitarianism. There's no denying it: If most people are horrified by the sight of an unveiled woman, then Pigovian logic requires a massive tax on visible female faces.
Happy commenting! Environment Posted by Harrison Bergeron at July 3, 2008 10:45 PM
Thanks, hb, that's a superb piece. I only wish you had excepted more. He makes my argument (sigh) a lot better than I do,
Posted by: jk at July 4, 2008 10:51 AMI visited Mike's Economics Blog and he has linked to Caplan's piece as well.
Posted by: jk at July 4, 2008 11:12 AM | What do you think? [2]