My real question though is: did people actually do this? Did they consider the possibility of a tax, discuss it, realize they couldn’t come to an agreement on price, and then implement something else?
Probably not, although they lived in a society in which the response “just use Pigouvian taxes” was not as salient as it otherwise could have been in their minds. This reduced saliency was, I believe, at least partly due to fact that Pigouvian taxes have standard implementation issues. I meant to contribute one of these issues as a partial explanation, rather than respond to your question more directly.
Makes sense, thanks. I still feel confused about why they weren’t salient to EAs / rationalists, but I agree that the fact they aren’t salient more broadly is something-like-a-partial-explanation.
Probably not, although they lived in a society in which the response “just use Pigouvian taxes” was not as salient as it otherwise could have been in their minds. This reduced saliency was, I believe, at least partly due to fact that Pigouvian taxes have standard implementation issues. I meant to contribute one of these issues as a partial explanation, rather than respond to your question more directly.
Makes sense, thanks. I still feel confused about why they weren’t salient to EAs / rationalists, but I agree that the fact they aren’t salient more broadly is something-like-a-partial-explanation.