Economics and the Environment, 8th Edition

CHAPTER 2Ethics and Economics

2.0 Introduction

After reading the brief introduction to global warming, you are now more informed about the issue compared to 95 percent of the U.S. population. Suppose that there was a presidential election tomorrow, and candidate A was supporting an efficiency standard. Based on the current benefit–cost analyses of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, she was advocating a moderate carbon tax. Candidate B, by contrast, believed in an ecological sustainability standard and was pushing a much higher tax, combined with aggressive government action to promote clean technology. If you were a single-issue voter, for whom would you vote? Why?

If you voted for candidate A, you might have done so out of a concern for economic growth or jobs. You might even have reasoned that the economic slowdown brought on by increased regulation would actually penalize the future generations more than the warming by reducing investment in education, capital, and new technology. If, on the other hand, you voted for candidate B, perhaps you did so because you thought that it was unfair to punish our descendants for our wasteful consumption habits and that passing on a stable climate to them was more important than providing them with a new, improved form of breakfast cereal. You might have also thought that we have a moral duty to preserve the species of the earth. Finally, you might have reasoned that new jobs would be created in the process of controlling carbon emissions. ...