Climate Liberalism

This volume of essays examines the potential and limitations of classical-liberal and/or libertarian approaches to pollution control and climate change. Some successful environmental strategies, such as the use of catch-shares for fisheries, instream water rights, and tradable emission permits, draw heavily upon the classical liberal intellectual tradition and its emphasis on property rights and competitive markets. This intellectual tradition has been less helpful, to date, in the development or design of climate change policies. One challenge is that climate change, perhaps more than any other environmental problem, confounds the traditional liberal emphasis on property rights and decentralized authority. Similarly, classical-liberal and libertarian thinkers have, to date, invested relatively little effort into examining how liberal principles might inform approaches to more difficult pollution problems in general, and climate change in particular.The contributors in this book approach the topic from a range of perspectives and represent multiple academic disciplines. The resulting volume aims to help fill the gap in the academic literature examining the extent to which classical-liberal principles, including an emphasis on property rights, decentralized authority and dynamic markets, can inform the debate over climate-change policies. Chapters consider the role of property rights and common-law legal systems in controlling pollution, the extent to which competitive markets backed by legal rules encourage risk minimization and adaptation, and how to identify the sorts of policy interventions that may help address climate change in ways that are consistent with liberal values.