Lauren Stevens, Chapter 3, Question 5

What struck me as significant and thought provoking was when he talks about taxing negative externalities such as driving an SUV. While this is a good idea because it inflicts an incentive for those considering buying an SUV to steer in a different direction (pun very intended), people will do it anyways. This brought me back to when he talked about taxing junk food/fast food earlier in the chapter. Taxing food that effects the body negatively is a good idea, however maybe making the healthier options cheaper, and the bad options more expensive would be more effective. Yes, fruits and vegetables are more expensive than processed meat products, but the money could be made back for the fruits and vegetables by making the junk food more expensive. This could be a different take on fixing negative externalities by setting a different incentive.