If government's goal is to alter people's behavior through taxation, then taxing goods with relatively elastic demand and supply would be most effective.

The statement is not entirely correct. If a government's goal is to alter people's behavior through taxation, taxing goods with relatively inelastic demand and supply would be more effective.

Here's why:

1. Elasticity of demand refers to how sensitive the quantity demanded of a good is to a change in its price. If a good has elastic demand, a small change in price will lead to a large change in the quantity demanded. Conversely, if a good has inelastic demand, a change in price will not significantly affect the quantity demanded.

2. Similarly, elasticity of supply refers to how sensitive the quantity supplied of a good is to a change in its price. If a good has elastic supply, a small change in price will lead to a large change in the quantity supplied. Conversely, if a good has inelastic supply, a change in price will not significantly affect the quantity supplied.

3. If a government wants to discourage consumption of a certain good (for example, cigarettes or alcohol), it would be more effective to tax goods with inelastic demand and supply. This is because the quantity demanded and supplied would not significantly decrease in response to the tax-induced price increase, leading to higher tax revenue for the government.

4. On the other hand, if a good has elastic demand and supply, a tax-induced price increase would lead to a significant decrease in the quantity demanded and supplied, which could potentially lead to lower tax revenue for the government.

Therefore, if the government's goal is to alter people's behavior through taxation, it would be more effective to tax goods with inelastic demand and supply.