The Green Economy

Brazil Demonstrates the Challenge of Balancing Growth and Sustainability

The return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president of Brazil accompanies a renewed emphasis on sustainability. However, discrepancies in his rhetoric and the policy of his administration reveals a rift between the administration’s twin goals of sustainability and economic development, writes Stephanie Tondo

Brazil’s CADE Demonstrates How Antitrust Authorities Can Pursue Sustainability Goals

Antitrust scholars and authorities are debating how antitrust can and should align with green sustainability initiatives. A recent ruling from Brazil’s antitrust authority, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense, in approving the launch of a commercial platform for agricultural commodity traders to track global supply chain sustainability metrics, presents one case study on how to advance sustainability goals without compromising competition.

ESG Standards’ Good, Bad and Ugly

The Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State hosted a virtual event discussing the standards, metrics and disclosures of investments focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. The following is a transcript of the event.

Electricity Markets Must Liberalize if We Are To Decarbonize Energy

In new research, Matteo Romagnoli argues that for the electricity sector to decarbonize as part of the broader green transition, regulators must...

Biden’s Second-Best Economic Agenda

Efficiency is out and political economy is in. But what does that imply about making good policy?

Are Sovereign Green Bonds Anything More than a Fad?

It has become fashionable for governments to issue “green” bonds to fund the transition to sustainability. However, sovereign green bonds as currently...

Policies To Reduce GHG Emissions Should Look to Agricultural Carbon Markets

As governments and companies look for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural sequestration offers one promising method to combat climate change....

Enrolling Capitalism in the Fight Against Climate Change

Environmentally conscious critics of contemporary capitalism often highlight the system’s permissiveness toward egregious pollutant activities, typically enjoyed by the ultra-wealthy. Using private...

Investors Are Failing To Take into Account the Green Transition

A stock market that has priced in the transition risk away from greenhouse gasses would see higher future returns, the so-called carbon...

The Case for Green Industrial Policy

Industrial policy was once so out of fashion that it was jokingly called “the policy that shall not be named.” Now it’s...

Latest news

Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?

Due to a change in how the FDIC resolves failed banks, uninsured deposits have become de facto insured. Not only is this dangerous for risk in the banking system, it is not what Congress intends the FDIC to do, writes Michael Ohlrogge.

Merger Law Reaches Acquirer Incentives and Private Equity Strategies

Steven C. Salop argues that Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers in which the acquiring firm’s unilateral incentives and business strategy are likely to lessen market competition.

Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists

Former special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy Tim Wu responds to the November 27 letter signed by former chief economists at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division calling for a separation of the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines.

Can the Public Moderate Social Media?

ProMarket student editor Surya Gowda reviews the arguments made by Paul Gowder in his new book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms.

Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy

In new research, Valentino Larcinese and Alberto Parmigiani find that the 1986 Reagan tax cuts led to greater campaign spending from wealthy individuals, who benefited the most from this policy. The authors argue that a very permissive system of political finance, combined with the erosion of tax progressivity, created the conditions for the mutual reinforcement of economic and political disparities. The result was an inequality spiral hardly compatible with democratic ideals.

Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?

Many financial commentators thought that the surge of retail investors participating in the stock market, the most notable of whom boosted “meme stocks” like GameStop, would democratize corporate governance and improve prosocial firm behavior, including the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. In new research, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee find evidence that the exact opposite took place.

The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Not Help Grocery Competition

Kroger and Albertsons say they need to merge to compete with Walmart. Claire Kelloway argues that what they really want is Walmart’s monopsony power, and permitting mergers on these grounds will only harm suppliers, workers, and consumers.