Quirky externalities

After reading a chapter in (Milton) Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom concerning government's role in education, I began to play with a deliciously evil idea: governments should tax bad parents and subsidize good ones. Okay, it's an outrageous idea, but think about it for a second. If governments taxed bad parents, then this reduces their incentive to have children. And since bad children are a negative externality (children raised by bad parents are more likely to grow up to become burdens on society; certainly the net effect of bad parenting would mean that society is less well off than if they had been raised by good parents), while good children are a positive externality (these children are more likely to be the next generation of innovators and political leaders; they are a powerful force for progress and society's well-being will most certainly increase as a result of their work). However, if my neighbors are great parents, it is out of my hands as to whether they bear children. Subsidies would change that. The transfer of wealth from the public to those that raise the best children rewards good parenting, and I am able to give my neighbors compensation for the positive benefit I receive from their children inventing the next technological breakthrough or medical cure. Taxing those parents that are unable to properly raise their children also helps offset some of the costs of their troubled kids. A simple example is that it could go towards rehabilitation costs or jails. Right now, these costs are borne by the general public, but instituting a tax system for those who are most responsible (bad parents) would alleviate much of the public's burden. At the same time, "bad child" birth rates would fall, meaning that the number of bad children burdening society would also decrease.

Before anyone takes me too seriously, I'm joking. It would be impossible (and probably unadvisable) to implement such a policy. First, it is impossible to objectively measure "good vs. bad" parenting. And second, there are other considerations, such as how this would violate an individual's personal freedoms. So before you hang me, understand that I realize this idea is ridiculous. I'm just trying to get you to think about things differently.