We assume we pay for everything we own and deserve. None of us realise there are ‘externalities’ that should be paid as well. For instance, you purchase a cigarette and u smoke, which is fine – u paid, but, to be extremely fair and square to the public, the secondary smoke that escapes from ur mouth should be paid as well. Being able to fulfill the insatiable desire to smoke even though you paid for the cigarettes does not authorize you the right to smoke in front of others’ faces.
Under the same roof, quite relevantly, it applies the same to the steering lock a person attaches on the steering wheel to avoid his or her car from being stolen. It is a really effective way to prevent car theft as only the owner of the car has the particular key to the lock. Many experienced ones would remember to lock before leaving the car. However, there are also many who do not lock their cars. This imposes a HIGHER risk to the latter’s cars of being stolen as thieves will have a greater affinity of picking cars without a steering lock, thus making the drivers without steering locks even prone to be victims. This is the ‘externality’ that drivers with steering locks might not have paid when they purchased their steering locks.
What is then a fully, fairly and well-deserved payment you ask? Take the steering lock as an example, instead of having one of these unbreakable locks which is also obviously visible to everyone (especially thieves) passing by their cars, why not choose to buy a detector aka small radio transmitter and attach to the bottom of the car? A detector which tracks the coordinates and position of the car when it gets stolen. Once realisin that the car is missing, notify the police and from there, the police will remotely activate the small radio transmitter. This device is indeed discreet ( probably the size of a deck of cards) and is barely possible to be seen by thieves. And when the car is found to be parked somewhere -outside a mechanic store perhaps to sell its valuable parts- a particular police officer can be assigned to stake out and wait for the thief to approach the car, therefore apprehend him.
This method is although slightly more expensive, it creates curiosity in the thief whether the car he intends to steal is installed with a detector. Hence reducing the risk of the person’s car being stolen without compromising other cars safety. This is then a fully, fairly and welldeserved payment made, with no ‘externalities’.
As for cigarattes…. just smoke in the smoking room?
