Good_Burning_Plastic comments on California Drought thread - Less Wrong

3 Post author: SanguineEmpiricist 07 May 2015 06:44PM

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Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 08 May 2015 12:04:52PM 4 points [-]

Prices alone also don't challenge norms that good home owners maintain grass lawns. They just turn grass lawns into a desirable luxury that not everybody can afford.

But that would still lower the amount of water used on grass lawns thereby increasing the amount of water available for other purposes (assuming the demand elasticity of grass lawns is larger than that of those other purposes, of course).

Comment author: ChristianKl 08 May 2015 01:04:21PM 0 points [-]

Status signaling through spending money on luxury items can be complex. The fact that not everyone can afford lawns makes the lawn a better signal for status and makes it more valuable as a status signal.

Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 09 May 2015 11:41:17AM 2 points [-]

Yes, but that still decreases the amount of water used on lawns.

Comment author: ChristianKl 09 May 2015 12:52:05PM 0 points [-]

If having a lawn that needs water becomes a status symbol, rich people wanting to signal status can choose to grow lawns that take even more water.

Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 09 May 2015 02:31:27PM 1 point [-]

Yes, in principle such a thing is possible. But we're talking about water.