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Re:New Cities by dragonwriter on Monday June 27, 2016 @03:00PM (#11988556)
> Markets are a great way of finding 'the best' solution to problems like this

...assuming perfect knowledge and the absence of externalities, either of cost or benefit, since (assuming perfect knowledge of costs and benefits) markets optimize the net utility of the direct participants in each exchange, but not net social utility (because externalities are ignored.)

Re:New Cities by pdonis on Monday June 27, 2016 @04:59PM (#11989434)
If externalities are present, there is no general solution to the problem of optimizing either individual net utility or social net utility. Markets don't do it perfectly, but no other solution does any better, and in fact the most common alternative, government regulation, does worse on average.
Re:New Cities by petra on Monday June 27, 2016 @06:16PM (#11989956)
How do markets optimize net social utility ? let's be more concrete , let's talk about a market with modern advertising ?
Re:New Cities by pdonis on Monday June 27, 2016 @07:56PM (#11990468)
> How do markets optimize net social utility ?

In the absence of externalities, this should be obvious. And in the presence of externalities, I did not claim that markets optimize either net social utility or net individual utility. I claimed only that markets work at least as well as any other solution (and that government regulation works worse, on average).

As far as your specific example, modern advertising, is concerned, I'm not clear about whether you think externalities are significant in this case or not.

Re:New Cities by davidw on Monday June 27, 2016 @03:09PM (#11988625)
I think most urban planning has gone far, far beyond actual noxious externalities, to be honest. I agree there's a line somewhere, but in the US, the balance is completely out of kilter.