The Case for Doing Little

As readers of this blog know, I have long been an advocate of Pigovian taxes, such as carbon taxes to deal with global climate change. (Here, also here ungated, is my most complete statement of the arguments.) On this topic, I was disappointed with the Bush administration, which did little to address the issue.

Their failure to act, while disappointing to me, was nonetheless principled and thoughtful. The logic for not doing much to address global climate change is spelled out in a recent blog post by former NEC director Keith Hennessey.