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rthomas6 · 2920 days ago · link · · parent · post: A New Policy Disagreement Between Clinton and Sanders: Soda Taxes
The way I look at it, lung cancer in smokers and obesity in the general population are both negative externalities because of the increased burden on our healthcare system. For people that do not have insurance or are on medicare (which is a significant portion of people), taxpayers and hospitals cover the cost of their poor decisions. There's the hidden cost right there. That's all a negative externality is: a hidden cost not reflected in the price of some good.