The Smog Lesson

Coming straight out of the legacy of the communist drive for industrialization; there is the smog. Central planners planned and implemented staggeringly large feats, and when it became painfully obvious that planners get it wrong, China decided to let businesses do it instead. China isn't into the free market; it's into growth. They fear revolution from the rural poor, not students or factory workers.

And then they decided to do whatever they could to end the smog. They closed down factories, took cars off the street, used the full power of the government to limit the smog. To very little avail. The smog is the story and it's much worse than what most Americans are used to.

In a free market (the absence of coercion), people are able to make decisions based on other factors besides the bottom line. If people become concerned about the air quality and learn company x is causing the problem they can stop buying from company x, or other companies can compete, creating similar products sans pollution. In addition, pollution represents harm, a negative externality, and if property rights were respected, people living adjacent to these polluters would have recourse through the courts for damages.

If you think giving up power to the government to save the environment is a good idea, what will you do when those in the government suddenly decide something else is important, and proceed to pursue their new goal?