IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v197y2022ics0921800922000155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Neoliberalism and climate change: How the free-market myth has prevented climate action

Author

Listed:
  • Fremstad, Anders
  • Paul, Mark

Abstract

Activists and scholars increasingly blame neoliberalism for the failure to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but there is insufficient research that investigates the theoretical link between neoliberalism and climate paralysis. This paper seeks to fill that gap by presenting a coherent account of how neoliberal ideology has constrained policies to address climate change in the United States. As motivation, we first present evidence suggesting more neoliberal countries perform worse in addressing climate change. We then analyze how three tenets of neoliberal ideology—to decentralize democracy, defund public investment, and deregulate the economy—have stymied climate action in the United States. Finally, we discuss the Green New Deal as a decisively anti-neoliberal framework that seeks to wield the power of the federal government to pursue large-scale public investments and binding climate regulations for rapid decarbonization.

Suggested Citation

  • Fremstad, Anders & Paul, Mark, 2022. "Neoliberalism and climate change: How the free-market myth has prevented climate action," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:197:y:2022:i:c:s0921800922000155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107353
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800922000155
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107353?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buch-Hansen, Hubert, 2018. "The Prerequisites for a Degrowth Paradigm Shift: Insights from Critical Political Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 157-163.
    2. Anderson, Blake & M'Gonigle, Michael, 2012. "Does ecological economics have a future?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 37-48.
    3. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801.
    4. Dale W. Jorgenson & Peter J. Wilcoxen, 1990. "Environmental Regulation and U.S. Economic Growth," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(2), pages 314-340, Summer.
    5. Thomas R. Swartz & John E. Peck, 1990. "The Changing Face of Fiscal Federalism," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 41-46, November.
    6. Fischer, Carolyn & Newell, Richard G., 2008. "Environmental and technology policies for climate mitigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 142-162, March.
    7. Costanza, Robert & Andrade, Francisco & Antunes, Paula & van den Belt, Marjan & Boesch, Don & Boersma, Dee & Catarino, Fernando & Hanna, Susan & Limburg, Karin & Low, Bobbi, 1999. "Ecological economics and sustainable governance of the oceans," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 171-187, November.
    8. Klitgaard, Kent A. & Krall, Lisi, 2012. "Ecological economics, degrowth, and institutional change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 247-253.
    9. Kavlak, Goksin & McNerney, James & Trancik, Jessika E., 2018. "Evaluating the causes of cost reduction in photovoltaic modules," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 700-710.
    10. Arild Vatn & Daniel Bromley, 1997. "Externalities — A market model failure," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(2), pages 135-151, March.
    11. Carl Kitchens & Price Fishback, 2013. "Flip the Switch: The Spatial Impact of the Rural Electrification Administration 1935-1940," NBER Working Papers 19743, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. E. K. Hunt & Ralph C. d’Arge, 1973. "On Lemmings and Other Acquisitive Animals: Propositions on Consumption," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 337-353, June.
    13. Mastini, Riccardo & Kallis, Giorgos & Hickel, Jason, 2021. "A Green New Deal without growth?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    14. William Nordhaus, 2019. "Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge for Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 1991-2014, June.
    15. Frances C. Moore & Delavane B. Diaz, 2015. "Temperature impacts on economic growth warrant stringent mitigation policy," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 127-131, February.
    16. Leah C. Stokes & Christopher Warshaw, 2017. "Renewable energy policy design and framing influence public support in the United States," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 1-6, August.
    17. Klaus Conrad, 2005. "Locational competition under environmental regulation when input prices and productivity differ," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 39(2), pages 273-295, June.
    18. Frances C. Moore & Delavane B. Diaz, 2015. "Erratum: Temperature impacts on economic growth warrant stringent mitigation policy," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(3), pages 280-280, March.
    19. Friedman, Milton, 1972. "Comments on the Critics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(5), pages 906-950, Sept.-Oct.
    20. Anders Fremstad & Mark Paul & Anthony Underwood, 2019. "Work Hours and CO2 Emissions: Evidence from U.S. Households," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 42-59, January.
    21. Pierre Azoulay & Erica Fuchs & Anna P. Goldstein & Michael Kearney, 2019. "Funding Breakthrough Research: Promises and Challenges of the “ARPA Model”," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 69-96.
    22. Arrow Kenneth J. & Cohen Linda & David Paul A. & Hahn Robert W. & Kolstad Charles D. & Lane Lee & Montgomery W. David & Nelson Richard R. & Noll Roger G. & Smith Anne E., 2009. "A Statement on the Appropriate Role for Research and Development in Climate Policy," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-4, February.
    23. Katharine Ricke & Laurent Drouet & Ken Caldeira & Massimo Tavoni, 2018. "Country-level social cost of carbon," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(10), pages 895-900, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Benjamin Billedeau & Jeffrey Wilson & Naima Samuel, 2022. "From Responsibility to Requirement: COVID, Cars, and the Future of Corporate Social Responsibility in Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Brown, Donal & Brisbois, Marie-Claire & Lacey-Barnacle, Max & Foxon, Tim & Copeland, Claire & Mininni, Giulia, 2023. "The Green New Deal: Historical insights and local prospects in the United Kingdom (UK)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Zeynep Clulow & David M. Reiner, 2022. "Democracy, Economic Development and Low-Carbon Energy: When and Why Does Democratization Promote Energy Transition?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-22, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard S.J. Tol, 2021. "Estimates of the social cost of carbon have not changed over time," Working Paper Series 0821, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    2. Moritz A. Drupp & Frikk Nesje & Robert C. Schmidt, 2022. "Pricing Carbon," CESifo Working Paper Series 9608, CESifo.
    3. Richard S. J. Tol, 2021. "Estimates of the social cost of carbon have increased over time," Papers 2105.03656, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2022.
    4. Luca Gerotto & Paolo Pellizzari, 2021. "A replication of Pindyck’s willingness to pay: on the efforts required to obtain results," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(5), pages 1-25, May.
    5. Franziska Piontek & Matthias Kalkuhl & Elmar Kriegler & Anselm Schultes & Marian Leimbach & Ottmar Edenhofer & Nico Bauer, 2019. "Economic Growth Effects of Alternative Climate Change Impact Channels in Economic Modeling," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(4), pages 1357-1385, August.
    6. Yongyang Cai & William Brock & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2023. "Climate Change Impact on Economic Growth: Regional Climate Policy under Cooperation and Noncooperation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(3), pages 569-605.
    7. Tol, Richard S.J., 2019. "A social cost of carbon for (almost) every country," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 555-566.
    8. David Anthoff & Francis Dennig & Johannes Emmerling, 2021. "On Differentiated Carbon Prices and Discount Rates," CESifo Working Paper Series 9243, CESifo.
    9. Marshall Burke & Melanie Craxton & Charles D. Kolstad & Chikara Onda, 2016. "Some Research Challenges In The Economics Of Climate Change," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 1-14, May.
    10. Stern, Nicholas, 2021. "A time for action on climate change and a time for change in economics," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112802, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Clive L. Spash, 2019. "Time for a Paradigm Shift: From Economic Growth and Price-Making Markets to Social Ecological Economics," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2019_07, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    12. Moritz A. Drupp & Ulrike Kornek & Jasper N. Meya & Lutz Sager, 2021. "Inequality and the Environment: The Economics of a Two-Headed Hydra," CESifo Working Paper Series 9447, CESifo.
    13. Stern, Nicholas, 2021. "A time for action on climate change and a time for change in economics," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112808, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Peter von zur Muehlen, 2022. "Prices and Taxes in a Ramsey Climate Policy Model under Heterogeneous Beliefs and Ambiguity," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-56, October.
    15. Armon Rezai & Frederick Van der Ploeg, 2016. "Intergenerational Inequality Aversion, Growth, and the Role of Damages: Occam's Rule for the Global Carbon Tax," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 493-522.
    16. Brown, Patrick R. & O'Sullivan, Francis M., 2020. "Spatial and temporal variation in the value of solar power across United States electricity markets," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    17. Spash, Clive L., 2020. "A tale of three paradigms: Realising the revolutionary potential of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    18. Marco Letta & Richard S. J. Tol, 2019. "Weather, Climate and Total Factor Productivity," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 283-305, May.
    19. Maria Rosa Trovato & Francesco Nocera & Salvatore Giuffrida, 2020. "Life-Cycle Assessment and Monetary Measurements for the Carbon Footprint Reduction of Public Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-25, April.
    20. Fremstad, Anders & Paul, Mark, 2019. "The Impact of a Carbon Tax on Inequality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 88-97.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:197:y:2022:i:c:s0921800922000155. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.