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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 15, 2023

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But the roads are free to drive on, which means they are being used above the level which is economically efficient,

By this reasoning, any salaried employee is also being used above the level which is economically efficient, at least if the employer has a choice of what assignments to give the employee.

...what?

The roads are paid for. They are just not paid for on a per-mile basis; travelling more doesn't mean you pay more.

If paying for something, but not proportionately to its use, makes it be used above its economically efficient level, that argument also applies to other things paid for in such a fashion. Such as salaried employees.

(Actually, gas taxes pay for roads and they are proportional to miles driven, but ignore that for now.)

If paying for something, but not proportionately to its use, makes it be used above its economically efficient level, that argument also applies to other things paid for in such a fashion.

A salaried employee is, at least for now, an actual human, and thus capable of affecting how much work it actually does. But, this argument absolutely applies to other things. Education and health care are 2 notable examples--the consumer rarely pays anything close to the actual cost, which results in overconsumption and inefficiency (for some reason I feel like I would get way less pushback on The Motte if I made the same argument for these domains...).

(Actually, gas taxes pay for roads and they are proportional to miles driven, but ignore that for now.)

Gas taxes only pay for a fraction of road costs and gas consumed is only roughly related to road cost imposed. It also has very little to do with any externalities, like noise.