One of the most common concerns raised by opponents of cap & trade is it will cost a lot of Americans their jobs. Given folks’ anxiety about the state of our economy today those concerns, whether true or not, have an impact.
I’m not an expert on the economy, though like millions of other entrepreneurial Americans I have started (and ended) a few business ventures. My sense is that cap & trade will create new jobs by giving the economy a market-based incentive for the clean-energy sector to expand. Here at Terra Rossa we’re highlighting a new TV ad featuring CEOs who manage huge enterprises that happen to feel the same.
So what does an expert on the economy say? John Whitehead, professor of economics at Appalachian State University and a fellow blogger over at Environmental Economics, saw the above-mentioned ad and he agrees - to an extent:
“My prediction is that the unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate and the employment population ratio will not be significantly affected by significant climate policy. Why? The (CO2 intensive) job losses that climate policy opponents trumpet will be offset by the (CO2 not-so-intensive) job gains that climate policy proponents trumpet.”
Will cap & trade create new jobs? Yup. Will it cause our unemployment rate to skyrocket? Nope. Dr. Whitehead thinks jobs under cap & trade will about break even. That’s a far more reasonable outcome than the cap & trade fear-mongers would have us believe.
Call me bullish, but I tend to agree with others who think the new clean-energy marketplace that would arise under cap & trade could have as significant an impact on our economy as the rise of the Internet. I wonder what Prof. Whitehead thinks?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 10:58 am and is filed under Cap and Trade, Eco-Business Strategies . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I am against Cap and Trade for another, and better reason. It gives established industries a “freebie” that new competitors cannot match.
GM makes Hummers in an old plant and gets it’s carbon quota. It goes to 4 shifts.week and sells part of it’s quota.
Toyota wants to move Prius production from Japan to the USA or Canada. In the USA, Toyota would have zero carbon credits since this is a new plant, and have to buy carbon quotas from GM.
Much better would be a new carbon tax, with the money spent on promoting renewable energy, efficient non-oil transportation and tax cuts in other areas. Treat GM and Toyota the same !
I know that this website is run by the Whitehouse with funding from established industries that do not want competition, but that does not prevent cap and trade from being VERY anti-competitive !