Journal Articles

Death and Environmental Taxes: Why Market Environmentalism Fails in Liberal Market Economies

---

This article aims to explain why market-based climate policies (carbon levies and emissions trading) have had limited success at the national level in “liberal-market economies” like Australia, Canada, and the United States. This situation is paradoxical to the extent that market environmentalism is often thought to be a concept tailored to the political traditions and policy paradigms in these states. I argue this occurs because precisely in such economies, workers have been the least protected from the market and the effects of globalization, leading to a squeeze on incomes and public services, and providing fertile ground for a virulently antitax politics. When coupled with the disproportionately carbon-intensive lifestyles in these states and the strength of fossil fuel interests, it becomes extremely easy and effective for opponents of climate policy to frame carbon prices as an onerous tax on workers and families. The article explores how this strategy has functioned at a discursive level and considers what this situation implies for climate policy advocates in carbon-intensive, neoliberal polities.

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

Global Environmental Politics

Call Number

-

Publisher

Cambridge : The MIT Press., 2016

Collation

-

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

1526-3800

Classification

NONE

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

Volume 16, Number 1, February 2016, p. 21–37.

Subject(s)

Environmental policy
Policy Paradigm
carbon

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

-

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment