Milton Friedman on pollution and the environment
Friedman on pollution as a cost that lands on people who did not agree to bear it, and why nobody actually wants it reduced to zero.
2 passages in the archive1 checked against the source1 not yet checked
Even the most ardent environmentalist doesn’t really want to stop pollution. If he thinks about it and doesn’t just talk about it, he wants to have the right amount of pollution. We can’t really afford to eliminate it—not without abandoning all the benefits of technology that we not only enjoy but on which we depend. So the answer is to allow only pollution that’s worth what it costs, and not any pollution that isn’t worth what it costs.
Interview with Milton FriedmanInterview, 1973, PlayboyNot yet checkedThe difference is not that our government has been more efficient in avoiding pollution; it is that private enterprise finds that it is not profitable to pollute; it is more profitable to avoid pollution.
Why Government Is the ProblemJournal article, 1993, Hoover Institution Press, Essays in Public Policy no. 39, p. 6Checked against the sourceRead the original
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