Quote:
Originally Posted by DonQuigleone
Nope, the thing is, people will only conserve things if it hits them in their wallet. And if food production is double what it should be, then we can halve the amount of land devoted to it.
Consider petrol. In the US, people didn't start seriously thinking about fuel economy until prices crept past 4$ a gallon.
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^ Yeah, it's called the invisible hand of the market. Here's the classic example:
Many people are arguing that a "semi-free market" such as what China has done would be more effective. There's both agreement and criticism .. the thing about macrecon is you don't see who's right for
decades if not longer. We know pure state-run economics aren't good outside of total war scenarios (i.e. Russia/USSR) People are leery about stories of empty towns and uneconomical loans in China. Japan's government massively overspent on infrastructure.
The invisible hand isn't perfect of course, but it does prevent certain things from occurring, such as over expansion of unnecessary infrastructure and the destruction of noncompetitive businesses.