Market is environment friendly
My article titled "Market is environment friendly" was published in the newsletter of the Liberty Institute in May 1999. The market is not necessarily the enemy of the environment, as is generally made out to be. A competitive market is actually the best friend of the environment. That was the conclusion of the study the Liberty Institute carried out to find out about the lack of enthusiasm for a government scheme introduced in 1991to promote environment friendly products. The Ecomark scheme was initiated in 14 product categories. Standards were set for these products in terms of efficiency, biodegradability, recycle levels, etc. The idea was that if the products met these standards, then they could receive the Ecomark label, and thus, helping consumers to make better decisions. The underlying assumption for such a scheme was that though the consumer wanted products that had less impact on the environment, there was no mechanism to communicate that information to him, which...