Talk:Deregulation

This source: "Gary T. Schwartz. The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case. Rutgers Law Review, 1991. Page 1022." seems to dispute your last example. Have you read it? ^{— Unsigned, by: 84.112.135.29 / talk / contribs}

The fishy examples of the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks as successful deregulation

I've added a ^{[citation needed]} to the claim that the less severe effects of the 1979 oil crisis was due to deregulated oil prices. It seems to me to be a clear case of correlation does not imply causation, because:

1. The 1979 downturn in oil production was simply far smaller than in 1973.
2. The 1973 oil shock had already led to some efforts at avoiding a repeat, meaning that a future oil shock was less likely to hit as hard.
3. There actually were queues at gas stations in 1979 (although not as long ones as in '73)
4. The price controls in 1973 didn't cause the queues, but were a response to the scarcity. Letting the prices float wouldn't magically have meant plenty of oil for everyone, and perhaps not even done away with the queues, but would simply have meant a lot of stranded motorists (i.e. all those unable to afford the even higher prices that would have been the inevitable result of letting things work themselves out in a scarcity situation involving a strategic resource such as oil - it's essentially analogous to rationing during wartime).

A better example would be the deregulation of the airline sector, although today's cheap tickets come with plenty of hidden costs (cutting corners on safety while exploiting and underpaying the aircrews etc.), or the mobile communications sector which has seen consistently declining prices and, as far as I know, less of the rampant cut-throating practised by discount airlines. ScepticWombat (talk) 11:13, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Deregulating water

OK, so how exactly would water be deregulated? What is gonna be deregulated? What are the trade-offs? Are the trade-offs even desirable? Carthage (talk) 12:26, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

You can read the Brookings report. Or this study, that is mentioned on the report.[1] GeeJayK^{Where all evil dwells} _{Where every lie is true} 12:33, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

"Evidence suggests that municipal water utility administrators in the western US price water significantly below its marginal cost and, in so doing, inefficiently exploit aquifer stocks and induce social surplus losses." Is this arguing to increase prices for water? Carthage (talk) 12:35, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Do you know what marginal cost is? When prices are below the marginal costs, the firm will incur additional losses for each unit sold. If the company continues to sell below marginal cost for an extended period, it may be forced to exit the market. In the end you're subsidizing those that use more water, especially huge companies. In other words, you're transfering money from the poor to the rich. This is not the only problem: when prices are below the market price, you have an incentive for overuse of a resource. This means less water available for all. So yeah, companies that pay too little should pay a higher price, otherwise there will be no water.

"But how about those that cannot afford for water". I don't know how many people cannot afford for water, but the government can subsidize those, so it's not a big deal. GeeJayK^{Where all evil dwells} _{Where every lie is true} 12:45, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Will it, though? Carthage (talk) 12:47, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Ah, you're trolling again because you lost yet another discussion. Good bye. GeeJayK^{Where all evil dwells} _{Where every lie is true} 12:50, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Trolling again? It's a relevant factor. You're downplaying the very real existence of classist sentiment (and yes, this informs policy) in the upper echelons of power in America. With a heavy deregulationist agenda (yes, informed by class interest) arguing to cut regulations for everything from protections against water pollution to the meager healthcare subsidies the US possesses, what are the realistic chances that the US government would subsidize water for those on the lower ends of the distributional spectrum? Carthage (talk) 13:15, 17 February 2024 (UTC)