Energy Efficiency: Regulation Vs. Price

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sun Mar 24 12:00:13 PST 2002


Gar Lipow wrote:


>Hi Doug. Yes, gas prices are higher in Europe. But regulation is
>more stringent too. My argument was not that price means nothing,
>but that regulation means more.

I've got absolutely nothing against environmental regulation. A higher gas tax whose proceeds were dedicated to public transit and energy R&D would make sense on several levels. So would tighter regs on smokestack emissions. I proposed a higher gas tax as a simple and painfully obvious step. There are others.

Dan Lazare told me he saw research saying that the average suburban household in the U.S. takes 11 trips with the car. If gas didn't cost less than Evian, the number might be lower.

Doug



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