Økonomer i praksis – klimasinker?

Joseph Romm står bak bloggen ClimateProgress.org og har til tider negative kommentarer i forhold til samfunnsøkonomers rolle i klimaspørsmål. I en ny artikkel han har skrevet for on-line magasinet www.salon.com om Obamas klimaeksperter (som han priser høyt) skriver han om egne erfaringer med samfunnsøkonomer da han var involvert i Clintons miljøarbeide – og hvorfor (ifølge han) Clinton sluttet å lytte for mye til økonomer:

[..]The economists from the NEC, Council on Economic Advisers, and Treasury did everything in their power to weaken the [carbon emission] targets. Those of us pushing for the strongest targets thought there were two camps. I figured the economists would win, since their economic models inevitably overestimate the cost of action and underestimate the cost of inaction

During 1997, I helped oversee a study by five U.S. national laboratories that examined what an aggressive technology-based strategy built around energy efficiency and renewable energy could achieve in terms of emissions reductions. That "Five Lab Study" concluded that the United States could meet the most aggressive Kyoto target being considered without raising the nation's overall energy bill.

I remember Bill Clinton explaining at an October 1997 Georgetown conference why he ultimately ignored the advice of his economists. Clinton said his economic team had assured him that his balanced budget plan would be a job killer, so he pretty much took everything they said from that point on with a grain of salt. He concluded, "I'm convinced that the people in my Energy Department labs are absolutely right."