The Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) recently released a survey [.pdf] of 144 leading economists who have published peer-reviewed articles on climate change. In the media blitz accompanying the release of the study, IPI spokespeople sold its results as a “consensus” among expert economists comparable to that of the climate scientists. They gave the average [...]

Last week the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11-1 to pass the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade energy tax.   Some of the Committee’s members wanted to delay that vote until the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts a complete economic analysis of the bill’s expected costs to American consumers and the nation’s economy, but Committee Chairman Barbara [...]

American families, U.S. competitiveness shortchanged by shortsighted proposal

Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a global warming bill. Following the panel’s vote, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the non-partisan, pro-market Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued this statement:
“The winners today are rent-seeking corporations, Washington special interests and our global [...]

Only in Washington D.C. would a program that costs hundreds of billions of dollars and perhaps over one trillion dollars, be called “comparatively modest.” But that’s what Congressional Budget Office (CBO) director Douglas Elmendorf said about the costs of cap-and-trade in his recent testifimony [.pdf] before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Elmendorf’s testimony [...]

Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer have yet again released a new version of their cap-and-trade energy tax bill. Since the last version was released, the bill has grown by another 102 pages and now tips the scales at 923 pages.
Unlike previous versions, this one spells out which groups are politically-favored enough to receive preferential [...]

IER analysis looks at economic impacts of provisions of House bill lurking below the marquee

WASHINGTON – In advance of Wednesday’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the economic consequences of climate change legislation, the Institute for Energy Research (IER) today released an analysis entitled ‘The Other Half of Waxman-Markey: An Examination of the [...]

On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey bill. Generally, Waxman-Markey bill is thought of as a cap-and-trade bill, but it is far more than that. Of the bill’s 1,428 pages, merely half are dedicated to cap-and-trade. Dr. Robert Michaels, a Senior Fellow with IER, examined the non-cap-and-trade provisions [...]

Senators Boxer and Kerry unveiled their cap-and-trade bill energy tax bill today. [Boxer-Kerry bill available here.] The bill is very similar to the drafts they released yesterday. It’s too early to fully analyze the bill, but a few things are clear from the outset.

It appears the Senators do not trust cap-and-trade to produce the [...]

In advance of Senator Boxer and Kerry’s release of their energy regulation bill tomorrow, two advance drafts were released today. [Boxer-Kerry Draft 1 is available here. Boxer-Kerry Draft 2 is available here.] From these drafts it appears that the Boxer-Kerry bill will dramatically increase regulation, provide new entitlements to politically-connected groups, and give corporate rent-seekers [...]

New analysis reveals cap-and-trade would provide windfall profits to politically connected firms, redistribute wealth

Who Benefits From Free Emission Allowances? (PDF 358 KB)
WASHINGTON – With Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) expected to reveal a draft of the Senate’s climate bill this week, free-market think tank Institute for Energy Research (IER) released a new [...]