# How could the free market have effected the switch to unleaded fuel?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-the-free-market-have-effected-the-switch-to-unleaded-fuel/437139>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 11, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-the-free-market-have-effected-the-switch-to-unleaded-fuel/437139 "2008-02-11T09:28:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-the-free-market-have-effected-the-switch-to-unleaded-fuel/437139/41 "2008-02-16T14:18:25Z")

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Another reference which is often touted for understanding the lead issue is _The Secret History of Lead_ by Jamie Lincoln Kitman (published in _The Nation_, March 20, 2000). You can find a 42-page reprint online if you search for it. It has a lot of facts in it, but also has a bias that I think almost - but not totally - taints the work. So overall it’s worth a read, but with caution (IMO, and it was a while since I read it, the bias is in the assumptions on the motivations of the players involved, and I think it does downplay a bit the initial technological challenges of competitors to lead…recall, this is early 20th century here).

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**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-the-free-market-have-effected-the-switch-to-unleaded-fuel/437139/42 "2008-02-16T16:14:10Z")

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[QUOTE=Saint Cad]  
To answer yes, there has to be a value in unleaded fuel not found in leaded fuels that would produce a change in demand.

Suppose some activist get out a campaign about how spending a little bit more for unleaded fuel saves our health, the environment, etc. If effective, people demand more unleaded fuel and supply changes from leaded to unleaded to meet demand. I don’t think however that this would eliminate regular gas completely.  
[/QUOTE]

That would only work if there were some way to identify, and introduce some social cost to, the people who continued to use leaded gasoline.

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