The Case for a Carbon Tax
Getting Past Our Hang-ups to Effective Climate Policy
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- $40.99
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- $40.99
Publisher Description
There’s a simple, straightforward way to cut carbon emissions and prevent the most disastrous effects of climate change-and we're rejecting it because of irrational political fears. That’s the central argument of The Case for a Carbon Tax, a clear-eyed, sophisticated analysis of climate change policy.
Shi-Ling Hsu examines the four major approaches to curbing CO2: cap-and-trade; command and control regulation; government subsidies of alternative energy; and carbon taxes. Weighing the economic, social, administrative, and political merits of each, he demonstrates why a tax is currently the most effective policy. Hsu does not claim that a tax is the perfect or only solution-but that unlike the alternatives, it can be implemented immediately and paired effectively with other approaches.
In fact, the only real barrier is psychological. While politicians can present subsidies and cap-and-trade as “win-win” solutions, the costs of a tax are immediately apparent. Hsu deftly explores the social and political factors that prevent us from embracing this commonsense approach. And he shows why we must get past our hang-ups if we are to avert a global crisis.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Climate change could well turn out to be a more important problem than national security, space exploration, or the confrontation of fascism." University of British Columbia professor and environmental lawyer Hsu doesn't waste time arguing whether climate change is happening, or about its implications to social justice around the world. Instead, he launches into a treatise that presents a sound, well-researched, and accessible argument for implementation of a carbon tax. As Hsu writes: "Because of its breadth, its simplicity, and its ability to piggyback on existing regulatory infrastructure, offers the greatest chance to reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately." Pros include: providing incentive for innovation; ease of administration and ability to be combined with other regulations, both existing and future; and creation of a revenue stream. Hsu clearly tackles the cons, including arguments that such a tax is regressive, ineffective, or economically harmful. Acknowledging political reality, Hsu states that politicians worldwide hesitate to propose a carbon tax even if they believe it's the best idea, and even though it has been successfully implemented in British Columbia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. This concise, logical, and sincere dissertation should be required reading for policymakers.
