The libertarian argument, which is popular in tech today, is that this form of regulation and redistribution is inefficient, that left to its own devices the market will regulate itself. If people value clean rivers, the argument goes, they won’t buy cars from companies that pollute. But history and human nature show that this does not work. On a case-by-case basis, people will almost always take the cheaper alternative. Nobody wants to see children working eighteen hours a day in a clothing factory, but at the H&M outlet, the $10 T-shirt is an unmissable bargain. Consumer purchases are
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