Market-Oriented Solutions to Climate Change with Pacific Research Institute’s Dr. Wayne Winegarden
Can free market solutions help combat climate change? Our guest in this episode is an economist who studies the connection between macroeconomic policies and economic outcomes, with a particular focus on the energy sector.
Dr. Wayne Winegarden is a Senior Fellow in Business & Economics at the Pacific Research Institute, a San Francisco-based nonprofit think tank focused on free-market policy advocacy. He’s also the Director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation.
Dr. Winegarden’s columns have been published in several publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and USA Today. Some of his recent columns have probably raised the eyebrows of many climate advocates, including being critical of cities that sue oil companies over climate change and exploring the limits and downside of renewable energy. But he also proposes climate solutions that he says have less of a financial burden on working class people.
Dr. Winegarden was previously with the economics faculty at Marymount University and has testified before the U.S. Congress to present his research findings.
Clean Tax Cuts
In addition to calling for a greater use of nuclear energy, Dr. Winegarden talks to Tucker about the need to incentivize the Grace Richardson Fund on a concept known as clean tax cuts. He says we currently talk about emissions as an externality and that we need to tax the externality.
“As opposed to saying we want to penalize the emission, because that comes with an economic cost, how can we incentivize the innovation,” says Winegarden. “If you have a technology that reduces overall emissions, and obviously it needs to be defined very specifically, you can pay zero income taxes on the income that you derive from that technology.”
Resources
- Pacific Research Institute
- Northern California Record – Wayne Winegarden on Climate Change Lawsuit Study
- PRI NEW BRIEF: City and State Climate Change Lawsuits Drive Up Gas Prices, Discourage Clean Energy Innovation
- Pew Stateline – Some Cities, States Say Big Oil Should Pay for Climate Damage
- PRI study – Bad Policy Choices Zap Californians With $1450 Average Electricity Bills
- Forbes – To Help The Earth Let’s Acknowledge The Limits Of Alternative Energy