An economist from nearly every major university in the U.S., nearly 3300 of them, endorsed the Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividend Plan. Last month, 45 leaders in economic policy published a statement in the Wall Street Journal expressing support for a tax on carbon as a tool for addressing climate change.
“Anybody who’s studied basic economics can see the logic of this plan,” said Greg Mankiw, a signer of last month’s statement and chair of Council of Economic Advisers to President George W. Bush. “The problem is that most people have not studied basic economics, and so the question is, how do we educate people to recognize that this is the least-cost approach to this serious global problem?”
“We’re really hoping that this announcement will help show that even in their own scenario, at their own college in their part of the country, climate change affects them, and that this plan is viable for them and whatever their individual scenario in the part of the country is,” said Ben Zollinger, president of the Yale College Republicans and vice president of Students for Carbon Dividends.
“Students are getting active and interested in [the plan], both Republicans and Democrats,” Former Secretary of State George Shultz, a co-author of the plan, said. “And that’s the thing about it It’s a nonpartisan approach.” He added: “When I was Secretary of State, that’s the way we we tried to get things done.”