In reference to Regulation’s recent collection of articles (Summer 2013) on trying to determine the correct social cost (and Pigouvian tax) for carbon emissions, I suggest that it be remembered that carbon emissions also produce social benefits. At least 15 percent of current agricultural productivity worldwide is attributable to the “carbon fertilization” effect of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. If the government is going to put a price on the cost of “carbon emissions,” then it should start by taking 15 percent of the cash value of the entire world’s crops and counting that as a negative “cost.”
The author is a member of the North Carolina Sea Level Rise Impact Study Advisory Committee, an expert reviewer for Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s forthcoming Fifth Assessment Report, and webmaster of sealevel.info.
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