BP, which stands for British Petroleum, had a larger profit drop this quarter than most analysts expected it to have. The article says that this is due to BP having to pay for the oil spill that it had in the Gulf of Mexico. I see this as a type of negative externality. By having the oil spill, BP caused harm to many and now they are paying a type of pigouvian tax. While it is not a pure pigouvian tax, it is still a sum of money the government is forcing BP to pay due to the negative externalities it caused. Whether it is exactly equal to the social costs is questionalable, but I believe this demonstrates how a pigouvian tax, or something very similar, can be used to make up for a negative externality.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/bp-earnings-q1-2012_n_1466565.html?ref=business
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