Like Al Gore, I personally burn thousands of tons of carbon by flying a lot, and Im also in favor of a carbon tax to deal with the costs of climate change. Anyone who thinks these are inconsistent positions does not fully appreciate or understand the economics of a carbon tax. Like Al, Im not at the margin. But changing behavior at the margin is not the best thing about a carbon tax, rather, its the spur that a slowly increasing carbon tax would provide to developing cleaner technology. This technology change is what, in the long run, will slow the pace (and thereby lower the cost) of global warming, without requiring major changes in personal behavior. Technology is also why its worth instituting a carbon tax here even if China and India do not. A US tax would not directly change the behavior of consumers in China, but the resulting technology changes that efficiently lower costs of nonpolluting energy would, purely by market forces, be rapidly adopted everywhere.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 15:24:48 +0000