October 11, 2009
Britain's Central Planning Death Panels
October 11, 2009
Free Market M.D.
October 11, 2009
Economies of Scale in Compliance
October 11, 2009
Balan's Challenge
October 10, 2009
The Pleasure of Telling Others What to Do
October 10, 2009
Gonick the Great - and How He Could Have Been Greater
October 9, 2009
More Scott Sumner
October 9, 2009
Not From The Onion
October 9, 2009
Thoughts on a Second Stimulus
Surplus and shortage. Resolved by price movements. Not Rocket Science.
Tolls put prices on behavior. That makes it easier for economists to analyze the behavior with their models and number crunching.
It seems a little early to proclaim success after only one day. Where is all the traffic going? Now, money-hungry politicians, like those in New York City, want to emulate London's "successful" tax increase, er, congestion pricing.
Keith, there's a John Seabrook New Yorker article that discusses the very idea of charging in NYC:
http://www.nbierma.com/journalism/archive/020902newyorker.html
It would be relatively easy for Manhattan, apparently, with the existing toll bridges and tunnels, plus EZ-Pass. The political trouble starts with the fact that they are divided between two states as well as two authorities (the Port Authority and the MTA), only one of which is currently profitable.
"...like those in New York City, want to emulate London's "successful" tax increase, er, congestion pricing."
If there *is* a tax increase involved, at least it's a very visible tax increase. Compare that to income taxes, deducted from every paycheck.
Mr. Hackbarth is on the right track. Economists are (hopefully) trained to identify the "best deals" for collective expenditure.
For almost a century, western governments (especially that of the U.S.) have subsidized the automobile and fossil fuel industries at a level far beyond that afforded any other industrial sector. The resulting expenses occasioned by crises in public health and environmental disruption have gutted public treasuries that might have been better devoted to education and cultural programs, shelter, agriculture and, yes, far more cost effective energy and transportation infrastructure.
Why Keith considers the responsible politicians who want to encourage folks to abandon unnecessary automobile use to be "money hungry" is beyond me. News flash - there is such a thing as the public good! I just hope his folks taught him how to ride a bike.