CURRENT MOON

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Economists. Sheesh.



With all due respect, this is the sort of thing that gives economists a bad name:

N.Y. Times Columnist Says Time Ripe for Carbon Tax to Cut Emissions

In a column published in today's New York Times, David Leonhardt wrote that a dispute among academics about the cost of climate change suggests the middle ground should be the imposition of a carbon tax. Among the strongest critics of Sir Nicholas Stern, who recently led a study stressing urgent action against climate change to prevent massive future economic damage, were Yale economists William Nordhaus and Robert O. Mendelsohn.

Wrote Leonhardt: "The two professors raised some questions about the science in the Stern Review. Mr. Nordhaus wondered if carbon emissions and temperatures would rise as quickly as the report suggests, and Mr. Mendelsohn predicted that people would learn to adapt to climate change, reducing its ultimate cost. But their main objection revolved around something called the discount rate."

The discount rate argues that a dollar of economic damage prevented a century from now is about as valuable as a dollar spent reducing emissions today. But Leonhardt points out the opposing argument is that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar a century from now and that dollar would be better spent on something like education to improve the earning power of future generations so climate change can be dealt with at that time.
New York Times, column , Feb. 21.


~Source: EEI newsletter

Yeah, Nordhaus, let's just put off doing anything about climate change and hope that our well-educated progeny aren't killed in another Katrina-type event just as they're about to solve the problem. Are you on crack?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

that dollar would be better spent on something like education to improve the earning power of future generations so climate change can be dealt with at that time.

And they'll be so educated that they'll understand exactly why Tokyo, New York, and London are under water. Makes sense to me.

Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...

Mr. Mendelsohn predicted that people would learn to adapt to climate change...

people might learn to 'adapt' to conditions for which they were responsible...

but plants, animals, etc?
they're just gonna die...
/

Dan said...

The author of the article, David Leonhardt, got it right. After noting that Sir Nicholas's opponents acknowledge that he might be right for the wrong reasons, Leonhardt concludes:
"In other words, it's time for a tax on carbon emissions." Simple and too the point! For more details see our web site at www.carbontax.org.

geor3ge said...

Happy 100,000, Hecate.