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Let
this be our national goal: At the end of this decade, in the year
1980, the United States will not be dependent on any other country
for the energy we need.
—President
Richard Nixon, January, 1974
“If all economists were laid end to end,
they would not reach a conclusion.” So said George Bernard
Shaw. The propensity of economists to waffle makes N. Gregory Mankiw’s
claim all the more startling: “Among policy wonks like me
[economists], there is a broad consensus.” Economists can’t
reach a conclusion, never mind a consensus. But he’s
right—economists have reached a consensus in favor of his
conclusion that “we need a global carbon tax.”
Because economists favor market-based approaches, their tilt toward a
tax may seem paradoxical...
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