Hauling BP before a Congressional inquisition (when many answers are not yet available) so Congressmen can pose and preen, forcing BP into an illegal or extra-legal $20 billion escrow fund has unintended consequences. Overseas businessmen are rethinking any interest in investing or doing business in the U.S.

And on shrimping and Louisiana — Have you ever seen a display of Oregon shrimp in your fish market? It would be a rare giant that reached one inch in length. Perhaps there’s more reason for shrimping in the Gulf than growing up there?

if i grew up in coastal louisiana, i am not sure how much
of a choice i have as to where i shrimp.

But even under those conditions, the optimal amount of shrimping might well be greater than zero. It’s not the shrimping that is costly per se – it’s only keeping the water pure for shrimpers all the time which is costly.

Lots of actors amongst the shrimpers would make that hard. Also adds to any tragedy of the anticommons present in getting drilling set up.

well first things first, gotta stop the spill.
i would put bp’s squad of their finest up against pretty much anybody elses when it boils down to deadliest warrior of oil extraction technology.
i seem to recall them saying at the beginning the only way they had to ‘guarantee’ to kill the well is drill the relief wells and kill it that way. in a way, the problem has already been solved.

My understanding is that New Jersey caps medical liability for injuring (in a car accident) a passenger who isn’t wearing his or her seat belt. I suppose that gets the expected marginal cost to careless drivers wrong, but people seem to dislike assigning liability that adds up to more than the total cost, and it seems better than placing none of the risk on the person deciding whether to buckle up.