State Economic Forecasts under Cap-and-Trade Legislation

Several organizations have attempted to predict the economic effects of a cap-and-trade policy, despite the near impossibility of producing reliable forecasts. Still, it is important to try to understand the potential costs of a carbon cap. In a series of state fact sheets, Robert Pollin and PERI Research Assistant Ben Zipperer have evaluated the economic forecasts generated by the most prominent of these groups, the American Council on Capital Formation and the National Association of Manufacturers (ACCF/NAM).

In Pollin and Zipperer’s assessment, even under ACCF/NAM