Last week, the Lancet Commission on pollution and public health (free registration required) released a study on the annual costs of pollution. There’s bound to be argument about the specifics, but it’s difficult to argue with the conclusion that those costs are really, really, big. The study estimates the annual global welfare loss 
due to pollution at $4 trillion – $6 trillion. The Lancet says that this is more than 6% of global economic output. … More
Tag Archives: Externalities
Which Comes First, the Chicken or the Egg? Innovation and Regulation in the Climate Change Debate
In the struggle to control greenhouse gases, one debate has been which should come first, innovation or regulation. The Bush administration, of course, came down firmly on the side of innovation. It invested money – though many argued, not enough – in developing energy efficient technologies or means of controlling greenhouse gas emissions, but it fought to end against regulation of CO2 as a pollutant.
From a theoretical point of view,… More