The Costs of Carbon Legislation - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute

The Costs of Carbon Legislation - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute: "The latest IPCC report (AR4) says that aggressive action against GHG emissions — and the schedule of cutbacks contained in Waxman-Markey is very aggressive in the range of models studied by the IPCC — could cost up to 5.5 percent of global GDP by the year 2050, relative to the baseline trajectory of GDP if no carbon caps are imposed."

"If your household would normally take in $100,000, then aggressive carbon legislation could raise the prices of goods and services such that you lose up to $5,500 in purchasing power, by the year 2050. (Because the total cap on emissions shrinks over time, the annual impact on consumption gets worse and worse as time rolls on. In the early years, the hit to income would be lower than $5,500 annually.)"

"These MIT and IPCC estimates assume an optimal enforcement of the climate policies, for all major governments and for a century straight."

"Most, and perhaps all, of these studies assume that the government uses the proceeds of the cap and trade (or carbon tax) in an efficient manner."

"According to this estimate by climate scientist Chip Knappenberger, Waxman-Markey would lead to a planet that warmed 9/100ths of a degree Fahrenheit less than would otherwise be the case, by the year 2050."