Some Kind of Metric

From the NY Times "In the Obama administration, White House economists calculated the social cost of carbon at $42 a ton. The Trump administration lowered it to less than $5 a ton. Under Mr. Biden, the cost was adjusted for inflation and set at $51. Officials are now working on an update that is expected to jump to around $190 a ton." 190 is a nice number but as is made obvious by the wide variation, it is random, a political calculation, and has little to do with any scientifically determined "social cost". And of course it will be derided as another "woke" tax on the working class, another attempt to "pick winners and losers" which is heresy according to capitalist doctrine. In an interview on conceptelemental.com environmental economist Jay Hatfield says the tax could be raised to 1000 dollars a ton and the market would adjust as the planet is saved. I suspect such a tax would be a bit more disruptive, which is why it doesn't exist.