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Written by Tim Worstall
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Friday, 12 October 2007 |
I was in Greece recently, chatting around the subject of whether
it would be a good idea to spend millions pounds stopping people from
dumping a few hundred thousand tonnes a year of caustic waste into the
Gulf of Corinth. Yes, of course it would be nice to stop that
happening, but the chatting was all about how we make it profitable to
do so...something which is really not all that easy. It won't happen
unless it is profitable, either, as with so many desirable
environmental changes. Indeed, it probably shouldn't happen unless
(including any externalities) it is profitable – for that surplus of
income over costs is what tells us we're doing the right things.
Anyway, so having finished my meetings I pottered off across
Athens and went to look at the Acropolis. Nice setting, certainly,
cradle of civilisation and all that, but it was a bit of a let down, as
I had thought it would be.
After all, I've already been to Bloomsbury and seen the Elgin
Marbles: what's here is the bit no one was worried about preserving,
isn't it?
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