Economists' Strong Advocacy for a Carbon Tax May Be Misguided

Abstract

Many if not most economists, both conservative and liberal, support a carbon tax.1 As economist Alan Blinder recently remarked, “It's only a very slight exaggeration to say that all economists favor a carbon tax to mitigate climate change.” As this author discusses in this article, their position seems to overlook real‐world politics, bureaucratic incentives, and the “pretense of knowledge.”2 Advocates of a carbon tax seem to fall victim to what Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase labeled “blackboard economics”.3