plastic bag bans

Two days ago the city of Los Angeles, CA became the largest city in the US to ban plastic grocery bags, following a host of other locations including San Fransisco (controversial ban imposed in 2007), Portland OR, and North Carolina's Outer Banks (more detail here).

Read about the LA decision here at Reuters News Service.

As we move toward discussing options for pollution control, a general theme that we'll consider is the effectiveness and efficiency of command-and-control alternatives (standards) including such bans relative to incentive-based systems like taxes and subsidies.

A more general question to consider is whether the optimal number of plastic bags is zero or some positive number.

Some places have used taxes/fees (Pigou's solution) to effectively remove most bags. Here are some examples: 
Wales UK

Washington DC
Toronto Canada

Here is a thought-provoking take on the topic from Science and Development Network, basically calling for better management rather than an outright ban. 

Obviously this is a controversial issue. What are the pros and cons of each approach? When is a outright ban a better choice? When might we opt for a tax/fee?  What other pollution problems can be addressed with bans vs. Pigouvian taxes?

Lots of oil in the U.S.

Here's an interesting article from Real Clear Politics citing some thought-provoking stats regarding untapped domestic energy resources. Things to consider:
- implications for alternative energy development
- implications for economic growth (and by extension poverty-reduction) at home

I think the article does a great job of illustrating the fact that there's no such thing as a free lunch. If you want more environmental quality, you're probably going to sacrifice something else. What if that something else is significant poverty reduction or world peace?

Back story reading:

The Solyndra controversy

Hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking)

Saving species

Here are three articles that consider the merits of saving endangered species:

Panda 1
Panda 2
Dormouse
Hattip: DG

Jobs and recycling

Here is a link to a report stating that increasing the rate of recycling in the U.S. from 33% to 75% over the next 20 years could create a lot of jobs and less pollution.

I have not read the study all the way through.

Where will the jobs come from?
Have the analysts omitted anything?

Greenhouse gas tax and airlines

There's an interesting argument place between the US and the UK related to emissions from airlines.

Read about it here and here.

Economics and Darwin

Robert Frank (Econ prof at Cornell) has an interesting opinion piece in a recent LA Times. There are several parallels with this line of reasoning and the article I linked to in the last post. I'm not a fan of the political turn that Frank takes in the last two sentences. As you know, I think that our job as economists is to be as apolitical as possible, but I wanted you to read this.

Frank's article is based on his recent book "The Darwin Economy". John Whitfield of Slate reviews the book and provides another perspective (part critique, part agreement) on the issue.

Selfishness: problem or solution?

A long but excellent read here at the Atlantic. Incentives, common property, "greed" and an overly optimistic environmental movement.

Hat tip: Kafi G.

Should government subsidize renewable energy?

Robert Semple Jr. of the NY Times say yes.

not WTP for EVs

People want to use electric vehicles (that's good) but they aren't willing to pay for it (that's bad).
Here's a short article at CNET.
What to do?
Hat tip: DGill

Strong policy and tough decisions needed

This could be the mantra for just about any conservation policy, and is especially true in tough economic times, but in this case pertains to renewable energy in the Caribbean.
Here's a short article at the Barbados Advocate.
How do we garner the support for these tough decisions? How do we get people, businesses and governments to forsake personal gain for the long-term betterment of society? What are the primary obstacles? What are examples of other problems we face today (i.e. other than renewable energy) that can be presented in the same framework?