Earth Equity News

Leading Canadian Economists Petition Party Leaders for Carbon Tax. By Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen, October 7, 2008. "More than 230 academic economists have signed an open letter open letter to the leaders of the federal political parties, urging them to acknowledge that putting a price on carbon is 'the best approach' to combating climate change. In a rare show of agreement, the economists say public policy needs to protect the environment 'because in the absence of policy, individuals generally don't take the environmental consequences of their actions into account'... The signatories include the godfather of Canadian economics, Richard Lipsey, whose name is familiar to generations of university economics students as lead author of the classic text Economics, now in its 13th edition... Prices have to increase to provide incentives to change behavior, said Nancy Olewiler, an environmental economist at Simon Fraser University who was one of the originators of the letter, along with Ross Finnie of the University of Ottawa and David Green of the University of British Columbia... The three originators of the letter came up with the idea about three weeks ago, then e-mailed a draft to other economics professors last Wednesday. By Friday, they had about 200 signatures, with more trickling in over the weekend. That's an astonishing number for academics not typically inclined to act collectively and quickly on policy issues, Mr. Finnie said."