The great genius of B.F. Skinner and
the highly effective behaviorism that he developed was his discovery
that punishment doesn't work, only rewards do.
The problem with punishment is that it rarely or never clearly communicates what behavior is being punished. When a dog
poops in the wrong place and the owner squirts water on the dog, the
dog doesn't know what the problem was: being in the presence of the
human, being too near the water spray, being caught round the poop
smell, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. On the other hand,
most rewards are very behavior specific. A biscuit for pooping
outside. A bowl of food for sitting quietly while the humans eat.
Rewards are part of behavioral training and they work.
The same is true for commerce. Commerce is in fact a reward based form of behavior. When customers buy more or pay higher prices, the commercial agent provides more, or better goods and services.
When penalties are established, such as
taxes on cigarettes, prison terms for selling drugs, commerce
generally finds a way around the penalties and charges the buyers
more to compensate for the economic cost of the penalties. The penalties rarely stop the behavior.
Commerce, like humans, responds to rewards and doesn't respond well to penalties.
There is always the interesting combination of rewards and penalties. As in the case of motorcycle helmet standards. No government agency supervises the published helmet standards. Helmet manufacturers can test their competitors helmets and if the competitor is below published government standards, they can be sued, put out of business and the company that brings the action can get a court ordered financial reward.
Commerce responds to rewards and not punishments. It is a positive sum system.