superrific
Legend of ZZL
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I was thinking today about this. It's often said that regulations have unintended consequences -- which is often used as either a) a reason not to regulate or b) a reason to be more careful in regulating. There are plenty of examples -- one classic one is that rent control actually makes rents go up long-term because it discourages the building of new apartments. That's a case where the policy is unsuccessful because of the unintended consequences.
But then there are the negative unintended consequences from successful programs. Here I have in mind:
a. Smoking is way down. The anti-smoking public health campaign took a long time, but it has been very successful in the end. Now people live longer, which means they collect more SS and I'd imagine they consume more Medicaid.
b. One reason that global warming wasn't detected in the 1980s is that the heat trapping effects of carbon were offset by aerosols like sulfur dioxide (among others) that reflect sunlight. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and is linked to a whole bunch of adverse health conditions. One of the most effective environmental policies in history was the Clean Air Act amendments signed by Bush in 1991, initiating cap-and-trade. Sulfur levels dropped precipitously -- not just in this country, but around the globe as coal plants were retired and/or moved to low sulfur coal (whether naturally low sulfur or "scrubbed" of the sulfur). Now, with fewer aerosol particles, the greenhouse effect is unimpeded.
Obviously getting rid of smoking addictions and lung cancers was a good thing. So was getting rid of acid rain and death fogs. I wouldn't suggest that we should have not done it. I guess it's just the irony of history that good begets evil. Like electing a black president and then getting, well, you know.
Other examples of this?
But then there are the negative unintended consequences from successful programs. Here I have in mind:
a. Smoking is way down. The anti-smoking public health campaign took a long time, but it has been very successful in the end. Now people live longer, which means they collect more SS and I'd imagine they consume more Medicaid.
b. One reason that global warming wasn't detected in the 1980s is that the heat trapping effects of carbon were offset by aerosols like sulfur dioxide (among others) that reflect sunlight. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and is linked to a whole bunch of adverse health conditions. One of the most effective environmental policies in history was the Clean Air Act amendments signed by Bush in 1991, initiating cap-and-trade. Sulfur levels dropped precipitously -- not just in this country, but around the globe as coal plants were retired and/or moved to low sulfur coal (whether naturally low sulfur or "scrubbed" of the sulfur). Now, with fewer aerosol particles, the greenhouse effect is unimpeded.
Obviously getting rid of smoking addictions and lung cancers was a good thing. So was getting rid of acid rain and death fogs. I wouldn't suggest that we should have not done it. I guess it's just the irony of history that good begets evil. Like electing a black president and then getting, well, you know.
Other examples of this?
