Climate Change

Archive for Climate Change

A Critique of Jerry Taylor’s “Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax”

My latest at IER, though the team helped me a lot with this one. An excerpt, and keep in mind that Taylor is the president of the new Niskanen Center: Although he doesn’t come out and say it, Taylor’s argument here rests on the belief that the hodge-podge of energy interventions currently exist because the […]

Potpourri

==> I thought this Lew Rockwell podcast about “guilt, shame, and anxiety” was interesting. Now I understand my life… ==> My recent Mises CA post on bank moral hazard and liability for shareholders. ==> Here’s the agenda for the Texas Bitcoin conference, on March 28-29 in Austin. If you use discount code “robertmurphy” you get […]

Naomi Klein Gets on Board With Climate Alarmism

…and she also sees how it helps fulfill her prior political goals. Interesting. An excerpt from my latest IER post: In an extended essay for the Guardian excerpted from her new book, Naomi Klein showcases everything wrong with climate alarmism. First, she slings out a string of dire warnings that are preposterous, going far beyond […]

“Divestment Day” Hurts Investors, Does Nothing for Climate

My latest at IER. An excerpt: To be sure, in these discussions the activists would come back and make the issue one of simple morality: Would you pick up the wallet from an unconscious man lying on the sidewalk, even if you knew that the next guy surely would? In a case like this, to […]

The Climate Change “Consensus” Isn’t What the Washington Post Thinks

I am really getting sick of people thinking “humans contribute to climate change, therefore Washington should impose a big carbon tax” is a no-brainer. It’s not. My latest IER post: Now don’t misunderstand, Richard Tol (the developer of the FUND model which shows net benefits for moderate warming) supports a carbon tax. But that’s because […]

The Case for a Carbon Tax Is Much Weaker Than You Think

This is a pretty “Square One” type of post, where I explain the textbook case for a carbon tax and how reality differs from it in myriad ways. The context is a carbon tax (I mean, “fee”) introduced by Senators Whitehouse and Schatz. An excerpt: Furthermore, even if we set aside the problem of “leakage,” […]

Potpourri

==> My wise-guy post over New York City’s goal to reduce CO2 emissions. ==> My post on conservatives and carbon taxes. (More academic.) ==> Greek philosophers playing Texas Hold ‘Em. Super geeky. ==> Elon Musk says we’re close to killer robots. ==> Richard Ebeling talks about the Berlin Wall. ==> Good news! New peer-reviewed paper […]