That's pretty much what has happened with the coal industry though. Coal is only used as a fuel because it is cheap, not because we need it [0]. And it's cheap because of goverment subsidies and political power, to continue providing coal miners in Wyoming earning $20/hour a job.

[0] ...as a fuel. Yes there are other industrial uses of coal, but it is mostly used as a fuel.

Depends on the type of coal.

I’m sure the coal we’re burning for heat isn’t the kind good for steelmaking which has a much higher value/ton.

The resource curse also exists in software. I've seen so many comments that try to justify excessive RAM usage with "RAM is cheap". It's only "cheap" if you don't waste it. Otherwise your consumption will increase to match whatever is available even if the additional value the additional consumption provides is close to zero.

Clearly you did not read the OP's comment very well

Even if you make the rainforest value 0, the land is very rich and fertile, so if the native plants have a value of 0, they will be removed and replanted with cash crops of some kind unless you resolve the economic reality

So you're saying that Malaysia and Indonesia should become tax havens?

The massive corruption and whatnot in these places is precisely what allowed Singapore to thrive (apart from being lucky enough to be located at a strait). Singapore essentially eats away at their GDP to sustain itself. Almost all of the tech scene in Singapore is largely talented folks from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, etc. moving away because SG has a lower tax rate and a very lighthanded bureaucracy.

If corruption in these places was to vanish and doing business made easy (via free zones for instance), Singapore would return to stagnation.