Libertarians should prefer a carbon tax to most other taxes, since it is (a) a genuine attempt to address an externality, (b) more economically neutral than most taxes and (c) on a tax base that is bound to shrink, since the economy in the future will inevitably be less carbon-intensive.

Libertarians should prefer a carbon tax to most other taxes, since it is (a) a genuine attempt to address an externality, (b) more economically neutral than most taxes and (c) on a tax base that is bound to shrink, since the economy in the future will inevitably be less carbon-intensive.

Libertarians should prefer a carbon tax to most other taxes, since it is (a) a genuine attempt to address an externality, (b) more economically neutral than most taxes and (c) on a tax base that is bound to shrink, since the economy in the future will inevitably be less carbon-intensive.

Freddie’s post is emblematic. Global warming is not a precautionary issue, it is a moral one. The former lends itself to the balancing of risk and reward; the latter type does not.

Moralizing an issue reduces deliberative freedom by scrubbing out shades of gray. Too bad if the situation calls for an etcher’s needle; everybody around you carries hammers and chisels.

Freddie’s post is emblematic. Global warming is not a precautionary issue, it is a moral one. The former lends itself to the balancing of risk and reward; the latter type does not.

Moralizing an issue reduces deliberative freedom by scrubbing out shades of gray. Too bad if the situation calls for an etcher’s needle; everybody around you carries hammers and chisels.

Freddie’s post is emblematic. Global warming is not a precautionary issue, it is a moral one. The former lends itself to the balancing of risk and reward; the latter type does not.

Moralizing an issue reduces deliberative freedom by scrubbing out shades of gray. Too bad if the situation calls for an etcher’s needle; everybody around you carries hammers and chisels.

If I buy that this change will be more costly, I guess the next question is isn’t this move away from carbon all but inevitable anyway. We will likely run out of oil at some point and moving to more coal would probably increase the global warming problem and create more pollution to deal with. So if we have to invest at some point in this change, why not move it forward.

The price elasticity is likely caused by the lack of infrastructure in place to deliver alternatives efficiently. We can let the infrastructure and technology develop slowly or we can push it along. It may or may not cost a few percent of GDP but like Manzi and Will argue, so what.

And of course Manzi should realize that there is more to this than simply GDP measures, which indicates to me a lack of creativity mixed with intellectual shallowness. This is our planet. As much as we can help it, we don’t want to get into the habit of changing its climate for a myriad of reasons beyond GDP.

If I buy that this change will be more costly, I guess the next question is isn’t this move away from carbon all but inevitable anyway. We will likely run out of oil at some point and moving to more coal would probably increase the global warming problem and create more pollution to deal with. So if we have to invest at some point in this change, why not move it forward.

The price elasticity is likely caused by the lack of infrastructure in place to deliver alternatives efficiently. We can let the infrastructure and technology develop slowly or we can push it along. It may or may not cost a few percent of GDP but like Manzi and Will argue, so what.

And of course Manzi should realize that there is more to this than simply GDP measures, which indicates to me a lack of creativity mixed with intellectual shallowness. This is our planet. As much as we can help it, we don’t want to get into the habit of changing its climate for a myriad of reasons beyond GDP.

If I buy that this change will be more costly, I guess the next question is isn’t this move away from carbon all but inevitable anyway. We will likely run out of oil at some point and moving to more coal would probably increase the global warming problem and create more pollution to deal with. So if we have to invest at some point in this change, why not move it forward.

The price elasticity is likely caused by the lack of infrastructure in place to deliver alternatives efficiently. We can let the infrastructure and technology develop slowly or we can push it along. It may or may not cost a few percent of GDP but like Manzi and Will argue, so what.

And of course Manzi should realize that there is more to this than simply GDP measures, which indicates to me a lack of creativity mixed with intellectual shallowness. This is our planet. As much as we can help it, we don’t want to get into the habit of changing its climate for a myriad of reasons beyond GDP.