Cowen and Yglesias (!) Making Sense on Climate Change
Tyler Cowen approvingly quotes Matt Yglesias on the dangers of starting a carbon tariff war:
The bottom line about the international aspects of climate change is that the very idea of an effective response assumes the existence of a generally cooperative international environment. It doesn’t assume the non-existence of the odd “rogue” state here or there, but it assumes the absence of any kind of serious great power rivalries. Not just China, but also India and probably Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia as well are going to need to cooperate in a serious way with the OECD nations on this. And I just don’t see how you’re going to get where you need to get through coercion.
After quoting Yglesias, Tyler concludes:
I’ll say it again: the current version of Waxman-Markey will make things worse. Keep in mind by the time we are slapping those 2020 tariffs on China, we won’t have made much progress on emissions ourselves. How would we feel, and how would it influence our domestic politics, if the Chinese demanded we pass Waxman-Markey, while polluting at a high level themselves, or otherwise they will stop buying our Treasury securities?
Exactly, guys! How would we feel, and how would it influence our domestic politics, if Al Gore demanded we pass Waxman-Markey, while polluting at a high level himself, or otherwise armed men will throw us in jail?
Matt Yglesias is right: We don’t need coercion to deal with climate change.
