tail of the tape

This will be a running list of sub-optimal outcomes of market behavior (maybe absent information failure, which is itself a whole other topic):

• massive campaign spending ... almost entirely wasted
• "publish or perish" ethic in universities meshes with the profit driven (sound bite driven) media to produce meaningless conclusions of studies, which causes the public to be cynical about the outcomes of research and ultimately less scientifically conciencous


• see above on costs of nitrogen pollution on the environment outstripping the benefits to agriculture


• heavily polluting industries are located on city waterfronts, where the pollutants can most easily enter water and the ecosystem, because nobody wants these facilities in their "backyard"
• anti-ballistic missile systems
• vaccine resistant viral strains
• increasingly complex, mechanized, global food system causes food to become more dangerous (and wasteful and unhealthy) ... furthermore some of the money we save on cheap food will go to cover increased need for resources at the FDA
• the cost of childcare, health care, and education have skyrocketed because these efforts are no longer provided by individuals (for themselves), families, and communities. Result: people work all day to pay for the things they used to do themselves -- meanwhile children and the elderly are warehoused in substandard institutions.


• artistic expression distorted because of market incentives based on popular aesthetic tastes nurtured by artistic expression distorted by market incentives


• lack of decent transit because of lack of funding because of lack of ridership because of lack of decent transit


• invasive species due to global shipping and travel ... sometimes requiring entire species to be be genetically preserved/regenerated (see: emerald ash bore)

• expensive weddings cause marriages to fail "Opulent ceremonies cited as reason for falling marriage rates in Gulf state, as costs deter many from tying the knot." http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/2013325960553179.html
• Ticketmaster