Pigou Club

The Pigou Club is described by its inventor, economist N. Gregory Mankiw, as "an elite group of economists and pundits who have publicly advocated higher Pigovian taxes, such as gasoline taxes or carbon taxes."^[1] Typically, these pundits and economists also advocate lowering other taxes, such as the income tax or the corporate tax. A Pigovian tax (also spelled Pigouvian tax, named after economist Arthur Cecil Pigou) is a tax levied to correct the negative externalities (negative side-effects) of a market activity. These ideas are also known as an Ecotax or green tax shift.

The newsmagazine The Economist has repeatedly expressed support for Pigouvian policies.^[7]

The group received a great deal of publicity when The New York Times published "Raise the Gasoline Tax? Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Republican" on October 8, 2006.

References

1. ^ Mankiw, Greg (June 24, 2006). "Al Gore in the Pigou Club". http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/06/al-gore-in-pigou-club.html. 
2. ^ Braun, Nathan (September 12, 2007). "Taxes cost-effective energy solution". http://badgerherald.com/oped/2007/09/12/taxes_costeffective_.php. 
3. ^ Mankiw, Greg (2008-12-16). "Chu and Pigou". http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2008/12/club-member-gets-cabinet-job.html. Retrieved 2010-03-02. 
4. ^ Greg Mankiw (2010-03-01). "A New Member of the Pigou Club". http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-member-of-pigou-club.html. Retrieved 2010-03-03. 
5. ^ Inglis, Bob; Laffer, Arthur B. (December 28, 2008). "An Emissions Plan Conservatives Could Warm To". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28inglis.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
6. ^ Nader, Ralph (December 3, 2008). "We Need a Global Carbon Tax". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122826696217574539.html. 
7. ^ "Climate Change: The Greening of America". The Economist (London: The Economist Newspaper Limited 2009). 2007-01-25. http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=E1_RVJTRQV. Retrieved 2009-09-26. "...the only two clean and efficient solutions to climate change. One is a carbon tax, which this paper has long advocated." 

External links

• The Pigou Club Manifesto (Greg Mankiw's Blog)
• Smart Taxes: An Open Invitation to Join the Pigou Club
• Rogoff joins the Pigou Club (Greg Mankiw's Blog)
• Raise the Gasoline Tax? Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Republican (New York Times)
• Talk of Raising Gas Tax Is Just That (Washington Post)
• The Nopigou Club (National Post)
• How Many Taxes Will it Take? (National Post)
• "Fat tax" could save 3,200 lives each year (Reuters)