Jerry Taylor’s Posts

• On science vs. economics

  Cato's Jerry Taylor responds to Michael Tobis 131

  Posted 1 year, 11 months ago

  The following is a reply to a post by Michael Tobis entitled "Should economics rule?"

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  "Should Economics Rule?"

  Well, I take it that Michael means to suggest that someone out there -- in this case, me -- would contend that economic analysis should dictate climate policy. I do not hold that opinion. For a brief defense of my position, see my post on the matter at the Cato Institute website. By the way, even a lot of scientists held in high esteem by the Grist crowd would have little complaint with my argument that scientists are… Read More

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Jerry Taylor’s Recent Comments

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  The Libertarian (Cato) Vote

  I blogged on the horror that is Mitt Romney today: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/01/16/conservatism-re ....

  There are about 100 of us working in the Cato building, and suffice it to say that I have not conducted a poll or anything.  But my sense of it is that about half the building will vote for the Libertarian Party candidate out of a sense of obligation.  After all, if Cato staffers aren't going to vote Libertarian, then who will?  

  About 60% of the remainder will vote for Mitt Romney if he gets the nomination - not because they profer him to the LP candidate, but some of us just can't resist picking lesser of evil candidates in a bid to be electorally relevent.  If the GOP banner is carried by John McCain, the GOP vote total here drops to about 30-40% of the remainder (primarily due to opposition to McCain's campaign finance stuff and his plans for an eternal war-to-end-all-wars in the Middle East).  If - make-believe-God-forbid - Mike Huckabee manages to get the nomination, the GOP vote total aroud here probvably drops to about 10% of the remainder.  

  Those who aren't voting to the LP or the GOP candidate will be split evenly between those who vote for the Democrat and those who don't vote at all.

  But that's just a guess.

  But we all agree that there are no right answers here.  This is a pick-your-poison question.  Would you rather be shot in the head, strangled, electrocuted, run over by a truck, or drowned?  You decide!On Gingrich's further explications of green conservatism do not inspire confidence posted 1 year, 9 months ago 11 Responses

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  Gingrich Pablum

  The GOP is in danger of becoming nothing but a party representing a coalition of big business, neo-con international crusaders, anti-Left cultural warriors, and mystics.  Gingrich is the wordsmith trying to hold it all together and sell this brave new political world to those few of us who once saw something else in the Republican Party.  To wit, a [principled commitment to individual and economic liberty.  Well, as you say, those days are for the most part past.On Gingrich's further explications of green conservatism do not inspire confidence posted 1 year, 9 months ago 11 Responses

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  Austrian Economics

  I have a bad habit of always wanting to get in the last word, but since I've already said about all that I can on the topics you bring up, I will resist that temptation now.  

  But I do feel compelled to clarify one thing.  I meant absolutely no disrespect or derisions when I used the phrase "so-called" in front of the phrase "Austrian School."  The Cato Institute was founded by a couple of people who describe themselves as "Austrians" (in the economic sense).  Many of my colleagues at Cato are Austrians.  Some of the most famous libertarians ever affiliated with Cato - such as the anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard - are Austrians.  Two of my favorite economists - Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek - are Austrians.  For my part, I think the Austrians are more right than wrong.

  In any event, "so-called" was meant as a signal to readers that "Austrian School" did not mean "a place in Austria where economists went to school."  That's all.      On Economists cannot predict the future posted 1 year, 10 months ago 69 Responses

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  David,

  I don't believe that economic development and fossil fuel use is necessarily linked.  Given current technology, however, it's hard to imagine having the former without the latter.  But that may change.  

  Nor do I believe that poor people are unnable to improve their economic well-being without the helping hand of their economic "betters."  But I do believe that economic liberty is a prerequisite for wealth creation (and, I would argue, environmental improvement).

  I do not support income redistribution, but that has nothing to do with the case (or lack thereof) for greenhouse gas emission controls.  But I do think it is worth pointing out that - for those who do worry about equity - emission cuts will transfer wealth from the poor to the rich.On Cato's Jerry Taylor responds to Michael Tobis posted 1 year, 10 months ago 131 Responses

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  Sustainability Uber Alles?

  "I think the issue is how to make sustainability an explicit goal of civilization, now that we have essentially completed as much growth as could possibly make sense."

  Try telling the hundreds of millions of people who live in misery and poverty that we have all the economic growth that makes sense at the moment.  Several million of whom, by the way, die every year from environmentally-related diseases induced by gut-wrenching poverty.

  You want sustainability?  If by that you mean a steady-state world with little economic or population growth but little environmental impact at the margins, we've been there.  It was called the Dark Ages.  Life expectancy was less than 40 years.  Not my idea of utopia.  But your mileage may vary.

  Lets assume for the sake of argument that climate change will induce a forced retreat to a pre-industrial era.  If so, at least mankind had a few glorious centuries of relative well-being.  I wouldn't have traded it all for all of the sustainability in the world.

  Of course, I don't buy the idea that such a forced retreat is in the offing.  But having been hammered up and down for not bowing down to the omniscient, omnipotent body that is the IPCC, I find it a relief to find that apostasy regarding their clay tablets is OK in certain circles.  On Cato's Jerry Taylor responds to Michael Tobis posted 1 year, 10 months ago 131 Responses