ABSTRACT
The justifications for many public policies are dissolving as technology advances. Technology heightens the complexity of the economic system. The more complex a system, the less knowable it is, and the less likely government interventions are to benefit society. Common law traditionally treated air pollution as a nuisance, and that spirit concords with a policy of pollution charges, made feasible by technology. Computer technology coupled with practice review and monitoring has given hospitals, clinics, health organizations, and insurers new means of evaluating practitioner performance. Technology has also made more viable the on-site recycling of water. Technology enhances government's ability to gather, collate and convey information, to monitor actions, identify transgressions, and enforce compliance. Improved technology might improve regulators' knowledge of particular sets of activities, and recommend more interventions such as anti-trust restrictions. The appropriateness of alternate policies depends on the state of technology.
