# Technology increases the number of externalities in the world * Trains allow people to move faster, but create noise and require contiguous amounts of land. * Lots of technological infrastructure requires a critical number of people using it to make it worthwhile * Internet satellites allow people connectivity everywhere but brighten the sky * Coal power plants produce cheap electricity but create air pollution * People doing scientific research can’t capture all the value that it creates * The internet enabled open source, which has massive positive externalities * Introducing new technology creates benefits and destroys jobs * CO2 The issue with technological externalities is that their value or cost is [[Nebulous]] and hard to measure. [[Many things cannot be measured well]]. This attribute makes it extremely hard to have a consistent way to deal with them. None of these technologies existed when classical liberalism was created. [[Classical liberalism arose in an environment that no longer exists]]. The extreme version of liberalism isn’t viable in a world where new externalities are constantly changing, increasing, and subject to interpretation. There aren’t many mechanisms to address externalities (reduce or force payment for negative externalities while encouraging positive externalities) except through governments. So pure technological growth may account for some of the fact that [[Regulations have increased by an order of magnitude]]. ### Related * [[Tradeoffs]] * [[Robert Coase]] * [[Market failures are actually failures of the existing institutions to allow markets to work]] * [[Market failures are coupled to externalities]] * [[Regulations slow down technological advancement]] [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Technology+increases+the+number+of+externalities+in+the+world) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Technology+increases+the+number+of+externalities+in+the+world)