Can We Afford a Green New Deal? — JW Mason

The correct question is, Can we not afford a GND?

So when we look at the cost of the climate proposals out there against today’s macroeconomic background, the question should not be, are they too expensive? The question should be: Are they expensive enough?

The purpose of policy is meeting policy goals effectively and efficiently. This means getting as close as possible in the design solution to "just right — not too much and not too little."

But in the case of serious challenges overshooting is better than undershooting, even if it "costs" more on spreadsheets and uses more real resources that turn out to be necessary.

The way it is looking, climate change is an existential threat as great as war. No nation can afford to scrimp on defense spending since national security is the highest priority of a government.

J. W. Mason's Blog
Can We Afford a Green New Deal?
JW Mason | Assistant Professor of Economics, John Jay College, City University of New York