A neighbor complained to me about people who leave trash at a local recreation area: “People come here to enjoy nature, and then they leave their trash and even full diapers in the woods! I’d like to have a talk with these people!”
I said, “Well that’s bad behaviour, but it is cultivated behaviour.”
“This behaviour is in no way acceptable!”
“I didn’t say it was acceptable. I said it was cultivated. Look, there are no trash bins. There is not even any municipal trash collection in this town. Citizens must schlepp their reeking trash to the dump themselves. It reeks because there is no separate organic trash. This town has created incentives for people to leave their trash in the woods. After that, it’s a question of statistics. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”
“Well, what is the town supposed to do?”
“In a Swiss town, there is municipal trash collection. Furthermore, there are rubbish bins on the sidewalks every hundred meters or so. They don’t make it hard for people to do the right thing, so the right thing gets done more often than not.”
“What can we do about town officials who make decisions without our input?”
“What if the town officials gave bordels on Main Street tax abatements? Would anyone be surprised if Main Street turned into a red light district? Well, that outcome is never going to happen because citizens would react to such a decision. When you say that town officials are making decisions without your input, you are very right.”
“These are hard questions. There is no easy answer.”
“The Swiss found one: it’s called civilization. It is the system of incentives and disincentives that guide citizens’ behaviour. When people complain about bad behaviour, it’s only because they enjoy it more.”
And thus our conversation and our relationship came to an end.
