A closer look
Macroeconomic scholars advocate for the implementation of a Pigovian tax to correct negative market externalities, effectively charging corporations a premium for dumping pollution into the environment or creating societal harm. Named after British economist Arthur Pigou, the concept argues that the free market fails to account for the real-world costs of things like carbon emissions, so the government must step in and slap a price tag on asthma and acid rain. Naturally, politicians practically burst into tears at the mere suggestion of making fossil fuel executives pay for the atmospheric garbage they produce, preferring instead to protect corporate profit margins. It remains deeply amusing that the smartest financial minds on earth figured out exactly how to price environmental ruin out of existence a century ago, but we actively refuse to do it because it might slightly dent the quarterly dividends of a massive oil conglomerate
