Copenhagen Policy

Why do people like the idea that whoever interacts with a problem is responsible for solving it? Popular policies would require insurers who buy medicine for the healthy to also buy it for the sick, developers who sell housing to also give away some housing at a discount, and employers who would pay a small wage to pay a large wage instead.

These policies seem to stem from the misguided Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics. Their effect is to deter people from interacting with problems—see, for example, how public hunger for price controls and service requirements scared Texas utilities away from serving rural areas.

You might as well get the neighborhood together to play baseball and tell the pitcher he should pay for the ball since he’s the one who throws it. If you want to buy a ball, split the cost, or no one’s going to want to pitch.