Climate change is a textbook example of the economic case for government intervention. In the language of an economics textbook, it involves a pretty clear market failure created by the fact that my actions (emitting carbon dioxide) spill over onto nonconsenting third parties.
Consider: I burn fossil fuels, to my own benefit. The climate changes. You might also benefit if you own land in northern Canada, but you might be worse off if you live in Miami or Bangladesh. How can you be compensated for the harm I cause to benefit myself? On the face of it, there’s a plausible case for government involvement.
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