Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Greg Mankiw's Blog: McCain vs Obama: Carbon Auctions

Excerpted from Greg Mankiw's Blog: McCain vs Obama: Carbon Auctions:

In his speech yesterday, Senator McCain gave a nod to selling the carbon allowances:
Over time, an increasing fraction of permits for emissions could be supplied by auction, yielding federal revenues that can be put to good use.
Not bad, but the statement raises several questions. Why over time? Why not immediately? And how high would that fraction become?

Here was Senator Obama on this topic in a debate a few months ago:
I think cap-and-trade system makes more sense. That's why I proposed it because you can be very specific in terms of how we're going to reduce the greenhouse gases by a particular level. Now what you have to do is you have to combine it with a hundred percent auction.

The Pigou Club gives the edge to Obama.

Greg Mankiw's Blog: McCain vs Obama: Carbon Auctions

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