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Economists use something called the “social cost of carbon” to estimate the future physical and economic damages caused by climate change.
Economists use something called the “social cost of carbon” to estimate the future physical and economic damages caused by climate change. Yet the final dollar cost assigned to carbon emissions fluctuates wildly: from roughly $7 under Trump to $190 under Biden! In this episode, Paul and Peter discuss the article “How Should We Value the Future?” (by Peter and David Kemp), how these numbers are generated, and how it’s not purely a product of scientific calculation but rather a profound ethical choice about intergenerational stewardship mediated by the political process.
Paul Matzko is a historian and a former research fellow for media studies at the Cato Institute. His book, The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement, was published by Oxford University Press. It has been described as “impressively researched and lucidly written” (Wall Street Journal), “provocative,” (New Republic), and “terrifically entertaining” (New York Journal of Books).
Peter Van Doren is editor of the quarterly journal Regulation and an expert in the regulation of housing, land, energy, the environment, transportation, and labor. He has taught at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton University), the School of Organization and Management (Yale University), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 1987 to 1988 he was the postdoctoral fellow in political economy at Carnegie Mellon University. His writing has been published in theWall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Journal of Commerce, and the New York Post. Van Doren has also appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox News Channel, and Voice of America. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master’s degree and doctorate from Yale University.