Equity Weighting: A Brief Introduction
An unfamiliar concept for most that just might make cost-benefit analysis more progressive.
The logic of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) favors the rich over the poor. CBA is based on willingness to pay. In essence, that means voting with dollars, which comes with inherent inequality. There’s a possible fix to this problem, however. It’s called equity weighting. Equity weighting adjusts the monetary values used in CBA to take into account that a dollar to a poor person is worth much more than a dollar to a rich one. Equity weighting can make a big difference...
CONTINUE READINGSouth Korea and Climate Change
A small country, but a significant carbon emitter.
Little known fact: The ninth largest carbon emitter in the world is South Korea. What is South Korea doing to cut its emissions? That answer, in brief, is that it has adopted the right kinds of policies, but may need to up its level of ambition. Even so, it compares favorably with the national governments in places like the U.S. and Australia. Here’s some background on the country for those whose knowledge mostly derives from watching reruns of MASH. South Korea is ...
CONTINUE READINGEmissions Trading in California: Lessons for China
A New UCLA Report for Chinese Regulators and Researchers
We are pleased to announce the release of a new UCLA Law Emmett Institute of Climate Change & Environment report on Emissions Trading in California: Lessons for China. As many of you know, China launched trading for its national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading system (ETS) in 2021. By volume of emissions, the Chinese system is the world’s largest ETS. It covers more than 2,000 firms in China’s electricity sector, accounting for about 4.5 GT of CO2 emission...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Policy in India
What’s Happening in the World’s Second Largest Country?
India is home to 1.39 billion people, just below China but growing faster. By some projections, it will have the second largest economy in the world by 2050. In terms of climate policy, however, it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as China. That’s understandable in terms of India's current carbon emissions, which are now only a quarter of China’s. But we need to be more forward-looking. Currently, India’s power system is heavily tilted toward coal generati...
CONTINUE READINGWhose Interests Count? And How Much?
Whether to consider harms to foreign countries and future generations is controversial. So is how much weight to give harm to the poor.
Should regulators take into account harm to people in other countries? What about harm to future generations? Should we give special attention when the disadvantaged are harmed? These questions are central to climate policy and some other important environmental issues. I’ll use cost-benefit analysis as a framework for discussing these issues. You probably don’t need my help in thinking about the ethical issues, so instead I’ll focus on legal and economic considera...
CONTINUE READINGAn Abundance Research Agenda
If we need to build lots of things fast to address climate and housing crises, how will we do that?
There’s been a lot of buzz about this column by Ezra Klein in the New York Times. Klein’s basic argument: We need to do a lot of infrastructure and other development projects to make the world a better place. For example, we’ll need to build power lines and renewable projects to address climate change. But our current legal and political system obstructs development projects too much, and we need to change that: We need to build more homes, trains, clean ene...
CONTINUE READINGWill public power advance decarbonization?
Increasing public control of energy systems may not facilitate decarbonization
Over the past few years, there has been a push in both Europe and the United States for a “Green New Deal” in which decarbonization efforts would be pushed by aggressive, direct government investments in clean energy technology and infrastructure. But in much of the United States and in Europe, large portions of the electricity system (which is crucial to decarbonization goals) are in private ownership. Would greater public control or even nationalization of thes...
CONTINUE READINGA Beautiful Day for Bumblefish?
A California court just ruled that bumblebees are fish. It’s not as crazy as it sounds.
A California appeals court ruled last week that bumblebees are fish and are therefore protected by the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). That may sound ridiculous, but there's actually a convoluted legal argument to support the court. That argument does justify giving the CESA some extra coverage beyond what we would ordinarily classify as fish. Making the statute stretch far enough to cover bumblebees, however, is a bit too much. The CESA explicitly covers...
CONTINUE READINGAdvancing renewables through electricity restructuring
Reducing barriers to siting new electricity generation can help advance renewable energy production
Our electricity system will be crucial to decarbonization efforts, both because much of our current energy comes from electricity, and because decarbonizing sectors like transportation will require significant electrification. And electricity is the sector where we have had the most success in decarbonization so far in the United States. But there is still more to do. And in an increasingly polarized country, direct policy efforts to decarbonize our electricity sy...
CONTINUE READINGProtecting the federal estate
Understanding the Property Clause's location in Article IV clarifies the power of Congress and the federal government to protect public lands
In my previous blog post, I discussed how the location of the Property Clause in Article IV can help answer key debates about congressional versus executive power under the Clause, as well as federal versus state power under the Clause. Here I want to draw on the principles I developed in the prior blog post: the role of the Clause in resolving interstate disputes and advancing horizontal federalism, and the relative primacy of congressional versus executive power unde...
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