first-order effects that cancel out exactly when expressed in terms of money, and therefore probably cancel out approximately when expressed in terms of utility
Surely the externalities of cutting down trees to make paper/burning fuel to power the printer/etc. are first-order effects which aren’t cancelled out by anything obvious. Or am I missing something?
I’d consider them second-order effects. (Note: by “second-order” here I mean something like “less direct, more diffuse, and harder to evaluate”, not “smaller”. I appreciate that this is a bit woolly; perhaps the distinction isn’t a helpful one.)
Surely the externalities of cutting down trees to make paper/burning fuel to power the printer/etc. are first-order effects which aren’t cancelled out by anything obvious. Or am I missing something?
I’d consider them second-order effects. (Note: by “second-order” here I mean something like “less direct, more diffuse, and harder to evaluate”, not “smaller”. I appreciate that this is a bit woolly; perhaps the distinction isn’t a helpful one.)