IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v201y2024i3d10.1007_s11127-024-01167-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Two (lay) dogmas on externalities

Author

Listed:
  • Vaughn Bryan Baltzly

    (Texas State University)

Abstract

I argue that much current thinking on externalities—at least among “lay political economists” (but even, on occasion, among professional economists)—is saddled with two analytical errors. The first is what I call coextensivism: the conflation of public goods and externalities. The second error is what I call externality profligacy: the conflation of economic and “social” externalities. The principal dangers presented by these two “dogmas on externalities” are that, while in their grips, we are under-disposed to seek negotiated, market-based solutions (of a broadly Coasean nature) to challenges posed by economic externalities, and over-disposed to seek coercive, state-based solutions (of a broadly Pigouvian nature) to challenges posed by social externalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Vaughn Bryan Baltzly, 2024. "Two (lay) dogmas on externalities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 471-494, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:201:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-024-01167-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-024-01167-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-024-01167-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-024-01167-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rayamajhee, Veeshan & Paniagua, Pablo, 2021. "The Ostroms and the contestable nature of goods: beyond taxonomies and toward institutional polycentricity," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 71-89, February.
    2. David D. Friedman, 1990. "Price Theory: An Intermediate Text," Online economics textbooks, SUNY-Oswego, Department of Economics, number prin13.
    3. Mark Jacobsen & Jacob LaRiviere & Michael Price, 2017. "Public Policy and the Private Provision of Public Goods under Heterogeneous Preferences," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 243-280.
    4. Cornes,Richard & Sandler,Todd, 1996. "The Theory of Externalities, Public Goods, and Club Goods," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521477185, November.
    5. repec:bla:econom:v:39:y:1972:i:153:p:78-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    7. Baltzly, Vaughn Bryan, 2021. "Concerning publicized goods (or, the promiscuity of the public goods argument)," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(3), pages 376-394, November.
    8. Christopher Costello & Matthew Kotchen, 2022. "Policy Instrument Choice with Coasean Provision of Public Goods," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(5), pages 947-980.
    9. Tabarrok, Alexander, 1998. "The Private Provision of Public Goods via Dominant Assurance Contracts," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 96(3-4), pages 345-362, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pablo Paniagua & Veeshan Rayamajhee & Ilia Murtazashvili, 2024. "Complex externalities: introduction to the special issue," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 377-385, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aris Trantidis, 2024. "Government externalities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 451-469, December.
    2. Robert A. Lawson & J. R. Clark, 2019. "Taxation in the Liberal Tradition," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 131-137, June.
    3. Acey, Charisma & Kisiangani, Joyce & Ronoh, Patrick & Delaire, Caroline & Makena, Evelyn & Norman, Guy & Levine, David & Khush, Ranjiv & Peletz, Rachel, 2019. "Cross-subsidies for improved sanitation in low income settlements: Assessing the willingness to pay of water utility customers in Kenyan cities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 160-177.
    4. Aseem Prakash & Kelly Kollman, 2004. "Policy modes, firms and the natural environment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 107-128, March.
    5. Mr. Garry J. Schinasi, 2004. "Private Finance and Public Policy," IMF Working Papers 2004/120, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Vítor Gaspar, 2010. "Financial Stability and Policy Cooperation," Working Papers o201001, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    7. Stavins, Robert, 2004. "Introduction to the Political Economy of Environmental Regulations," RFF Working Paper Series dp-04-12, Resources for the Future.
    8. Franklin G. Mixon, 2018. "Camaraderie, common pool congestion, and the optimal size of surf gangs," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 381-396, November.
    9. Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay, 2014. "On the Definition of Public Goods. Assessing Richard A. Musgrave's contribution," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14004, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    10. Byron Carson, 2024. "Prevention externalities: private and public responses to the 1878 yellow fever epidemic," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 579-606, December.
    11. Engel, Christoph, 0. "Competition in a pure world of Internet telephony," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 530-540, September.
    12. Rude, James, 2000. "Appropriate Remedies For Non-Trade Concerns," CATRN Papers 12888, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Research Network.
    13. Emanuela Randon, 2002. "L’analisi positiva dell’esternalità: rassegna della letteratura e nuovi spunti," Working Papers 58, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2002.
    14. Roger Congleton, 2006. "International Public Goods and Agency Problems in Treaty Organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 319-336, December.
    15. Buchholz Wolfgang & Heindl Peter, 2015. "Ökonomische Herausforderungen des Klimawandels," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 16(4), pages 324-350, December.
    16. Christoph Engel, 2021. "Wettbewerb und Gemeinwohl," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2021_08, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    17. Robert Innes & George Frisvold, 2009. "The Economics of Endangered Species," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 485-512, September.
    18. Rareș Petru MIHALACHE & Dumitru Alexandru BODISLAV, 2019. "Government failure vs. Market failure. The implications of incomplete information," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(2(619), S), pages 91-104, Summer.
    19. Todd Sandler, 2017. "Environmental cooperation: contrasting international environmental agreements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(2), pages 345-364.
    20. Chris Webster, 2024. "Tiebout, Coase and urban scaling," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 73(3), pages 1125-1147, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:201:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-024-01167-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.