Price mechanisms (taxes or charges on emissions/noise) would achieve the same pollution-reduction benefits more cheaply than command-and-control technology mandates, because mandates impose an 'engineering mentality' that pursues a technological goal while treating cost as secondary—as shown by Honda being forced to install catalytic converters even though it already met the same pollution standard.

causalpending

Speaker

Clifford Winston

Evidence Quote

a general characterization sort of an engineering mentality that often comes about with a lot of these policies and that we just don't want to achieve you know that the technological goal and the cost becomes secondary

Source

Clifford Winston on Market Failure and Government Failure 12/28/2009EconTalk
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:37:54 AM

My Notes

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