[malandrew]

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that 90% of the examples of NIMBYism cited in this thread and the example cited in the original article revolve around cars?

Cars are the epitomy of an externality and are inherently anti-community and anti-commons. A vehicle that can move at 20mph to 70+ mph and comes in contact with human beings (as opposed to being segregated from them by barriers or being buried underground like a train) can only ever be detrimental to the commons. Everyone with a car wants it to move slowly around their own neighborhood and fast through everyone else's.

[guylhem]

I found a good example on seniors healthcare, while reading overcomingbias today. It hasn't been discussed that much in the thread. Maybe that's because of the political link of the issue? Then it's not a bad thing.

Yet healthcare is the total opposite of anti-community !

[malandrew]

Yes and no. It's definitely an externality issue where one group robs another via voting power, but it's not NIMBYism because it doesn't involve "backyards"/neighborhoods.

[guylhem]

Define neighborhoods ie proximity on a time scale (age) instead of a geographic scale (backyards) and it seems like the exact same problem : a case where the voting density (voting power) function does not match the impacts function (who pays for what), with the cause of the externality being a proximity preference.