| Kasz216 said: Er. Wouldn't that be that there was a lack of demand for paved roads. |
Regarding private toll roads everywhere, I'd like to see you and ssj12's solution for providing revenue on non-turnpike roads. Would you put a toll booth on everyone's driveway, or perhaps on every intersection. That would be great for traffic, as well as the economy, not to mention to cost of supplying staffing or electronic readers everywhere. Laughable.
This is economics 101 stuff here. Read up on public goods, free rider, non-excludable and externalities. I'll help by referencing the simplest economics definitions I can find.
Market Failure
When a market left to itself does not allocate resources efficiently. Interventionist politicians usually allege market failure to justify their interventions. Economists have identified four main sorts or causes of market failure.
• The abuse of MARKET POWER, which can occur whenever a single buyer or seller can exert significant influence over PRICES or OUTPUT (see MONOPOLY and MONOPSONY).
• EXTERNALITIES – when the market does not take into account the impact of an economic activity on outsiders. For example, the market may ignore the costs imposed on outsiders by a firm polluting the environment.
• PUBLIC GOODS, such as national defence. How much defence would be provided if it were left to the market?
• Where there is incomplete or ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION or uncertainty.
Abuse of market power is best tackled through ANTITRUST policy. Externalities can be reduced through REGULATION, a tax or subsidy, or by using property rights to force the market to take into account the WELFARE of all who are affected by an economic activity. The SUPPLY of public goods can be ensured by compelling everybody to pay for them through the tax system.
http://www.economist.com/research/economics/alphabetic.cfm?term=marketfailure#marketfailure
Unless you and ssj12 are single-handidly going to turn the economic world on its head with your impenetrable logic and unmatachable intelligence, I'm going to go on accepting what 99.9% of economists believe and what I've experienced in the real world.
