26th May 2009, 05:49 PM
"Even the very terms of this debate are open to question. Who's the polluter here? The developer? The new building itself? Or the people of the past, whose material trace requires cleaning and processing by specialist environmental risk managers? "
Pollution is what economists refer to as a negative externality; that is a bad thing which is external to the transaction between the buyer and seller, and therefore is not built into the price mechanism.
The 'pollution' is the destruction of the cultural deposits and the loss of information about the past for future generations. This is information which does not necessarily have a price, though it can have a value. The negative externality is brought within the mechanism of demand and supply by means of regulation; the planning system.
"...is particularly vulnerable to extreme market swings, and this is a direct consequence of the capitalist model."
Yes, absolutely. I just can't imagine a model which is not based on a market giving anything like a satisfactory result.
Pollution is what economists refer to as a negative externality; that is a bad thing which is external to the transaction between the buyer and seller, and therefore is not built into the price mechanism.
The 'pollution' is the destruction of the cultural deposits and the loss of information about the past for future generations. This is information which does not necessarily have a price, though it can have a value. The negative externality is brought within the mechanism of demand and supply by means of regulation; the planning system.
"...is particularly vulnerable to extreme market swings, and this is a direct consequence of the capitalist model."
Yes, absolutely. I just can't imagine a model which is not based on a market giving anything like a satisfactory result.