Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

CLIMATE MITIGATION POLICY

A preference for constant costs

Raising the cost of carbon is critical for effective climate policy, but is politically challenging because the public are averse to costs. Conventional wisdom suggests this could be addressed by giving the public time to adjust by gradually increasing costs. However, new research shows that the public actually prefers a constant cost curve.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Nordhaus, W. Am. Econ. Rev. 109, 1991–2014 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Environmental Defense Fund. How cap and trade works https://www.edf.org/climate/how-cap-and-trade-works (2020).

  3. International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Monitor: How to Mitigate Climate Change (2019).

  4. Bechtel, M., Scheve, K. & van Lieshout, E. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00914-6 (2020).

  5. Hainmueller, J., Hopkins, D. J. & Yamamoto, T. Polit. Anal. 22, 1–30 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Stokes, L. C. & Warshaw, C. Nat. Energy 2, 1–6 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Anderson, S. T., Marinescu, I. & Shor, B. Can Pigou at the Polls Stop Us Melting the Poles? (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2019).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Warshaw.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Warshaw, C. A preference for constant costs. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 978–979 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0896-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0896-8

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene