期刊名称：Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics (EJPE)
印刷版ISSN：1876-9098
出版年度：2011
卷号：4
期号：2
出版社：Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics
摘要：It is high time for a book such as the one Steven Medema has written on
the history of the economic discussion of externalities. As long as there
has been a discipline of economics, externalities have been central to a
class of ongoing debates. Indeed, a critical explanation (justification?)
for a wide range of government action has been the argument that the
market has “failed” to provide the right incentives when some activity
which I undertake has a direct impact on your output. So deep is this
literature that the phrase “market failure” will conjure up a series of set-pieces. In some circles where those words are spoken another phrase,
“government failure”, will come to mind. In this oral tradition, there are
stylized positions about the role of government advocated by famous
names like Arthur Cecil Pigou, Ronald Coase, and James Buchanan. The
oral tradition, as we know to our cost, is a very sad substitute for a real
historical study of the arguments.
