Friday, April 16, 2010

Climate economics: supply side approach ignores Jevons' principle.

Here is a simple question for the advocates of reducing carbon emissions via market incentive. What if your plan works and our wasteful system is preserved? We will answer for you. When the plan reduces emissions 20% and the autosprawl system has been essentially preserved, and the majority of the negative externalities are still borne by the poor, there will be room for 20% growth. We will have gotten nowhere, and time will have run out.