Results of Platform Debates on Carbon Policy in Discussion Section

Winning Platforms Fall 2018

Section	Section_time	Teach_Asst	Winning Platform	Economic Justification	votes_YES	votes_NO
2	10:10 AM‑11:00 AM W Hubert H. Humphrey School 35	Sean Bassler	Cap n Trade on CO2 emissions with tradeable CO2 permits	Tradeable C02 and a graduale cap on CO2 emissions will minimize disruption to market while lowering pollution	Overwhellming majoriy
3	10:10 AM‑11:00 AM W Blegen Hall 140	Johanna Swab	Subsidy on electric cars	Since electric cars do not have high negative externalities like regular cars we should encourage their purchase; a subsidy would lower the price to the buyer and raise the price to the seller, which would encourage car companies to make more electric cars and consumers to buy more electric cars.	24	5
4	10:10 AM‑11:00 AM W Blegen Hall 330	Tomas Rose	Subsidy program on both firms and consumers to reduce CO2 emissions	On a cost-benefit analysis at the firm level, with a subsidy, switching to alternative fuels won't be too costly. On the consumer side, foster the use of public transport and/or purchases of electric vehicles (thus reducing CO2 by lowering the number of cars in the streets)	19	15
5	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM W Blegen Hall 140	Ju Young Yang	a cap and trade system	It incentives companies to innovate a more efficient means of energy production and eco-friendly products.	19	8
6	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM W Blegen Hall 125	Hayagreev Ramesh	Cap & Trade carbon, increase gas tax, subsidize green energy	Fossil fuels have negative externalities so taxing them is good, subsidizing green energy will lead to faster adoption and decrease fossil fuel consumption further
8	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM W Blegen Hall 415	Yan Zhao	impose a $0.25 per gallon tax increase on premium gasoline and a $0.20 per gallon tax increase on regular gasoline for the next 10 years.	Demand on gasoline is inelastic, so if the tax is not enough to sway consumers from purchasing gasoline, they will still be helping our cause if their purchases of gasoline increase the tax revenue.Goal of tax revenue is to put the money towards finding more clean, renewable energy sources and electric cars.	18	9
9	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM W Blegen Hall 140	Mahdi Ansari	Cap and Trade	1. Incentivise firms to be more environmentally clean 2. More efficient than imposing tax (in terms of total surplus) since market based 3. Controlling Carbon emission while generating government revenues.	14	7
11	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM W Blegen Hall 225	Omer Ceyhan	Decrease the 32.5 gigatons of Carbon Emissions (2017) every year by 2 gigatons a year with a cap and trade system giving each country the same initial starting amount allowed and letting them trade their allowed emissions with one another.	It creates a new economic resource for industries. It allows for a predetermined maximum level of emissions. It can be a way to supplement taxpayer resources, governments will purchase credits and sell them to businesses reducing taxes on the consumer. It will help fund alternative energy sources. It will encourage businesses to utilize cleaner energy in the future. A cleaner living environment for the consumer.	14	8
12	10:10 AM‑11:00 AM W Blegen Hall 215	Caitlin Treanor
13	01:25 PM‑02:15 PM W Blegen Hall 140	Mahdi Ansari	Subsidizing Public Transportation	1. Large fraction of air pollution is due to cars not companies which would not be controlled by tax or cap & trade 2. Public transportation is generally a good thing, developing the city, benefiting everybody, etc.	10	9
15	02:30 PM‑03:20 PM W Blegen Hall 145	Johanna Swab
16	02:30 PM‑03:20 PM W Blegen Hall 140	Tomas Rose	A 22 dollars carbon tax to reduce fossil fuel consumption. The tax would increase on an yearly basis	Taxes are more straightforward and (based on existing evidence) have proven to be more effective in achieving these results	9	1
18	08:00 AM‑08:50 AM W Blegen Hall 240	Caitlin Treanor	Carbon tax	Tax on carbon emissions requires producers to pay fees per metric ton proportional to how much firms consume. Revenue can be used to promote alternative energies. Incremental implementation of tax to gather information on how firms respond, and then adjust accordingly.
19	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM F Blegen Hall 230	JOSEPH PEDTKE	Incremental gas tax	By instituting a gas tax that gradually increases over time, consumers will be incentivized to begin altering their behavior regarding cars. The gradual increases will give consumers enough time to adjust their habits - find more green-friendly ways of commuting (more efficient cars), use public transportation, save up money to by newer models, etc. so that the government can raise more money to address carbon emissions while not instantaneously having their wallet hit hard.	9
20	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM F Blegen Hall 220	Sean Bassler	Tax on CO2 emissions	A tax on CO2 emissions will lower the demand for things that produce CO2, and thus lower CO2 emissions	80%	20%
21	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM F Blegen Hall 145	Seungyoon Jeong	Propose a Global Trade Agreement that American companies with competitive advantages in specialized technologies of “reducing carbon emissions" to be incentivised to be shared abroad with other growing countries	* Give developing countries the efficient technology without just upright charging them or putting them in financial debt for it. Rather we find fair efficient compromise and trade agreements. * Using free market and auctions to create competition to provide the best trade deals.	18	8
23	09:05 AM‑09:55 AM F Blegen Hall 145	Seungyoon Jeong	Propose an allocation of tradeable or sellable permits to every country	* Each country will be forced to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions or pay to buy permits. This allows firms to adjust to limited emissions over time. * Creates incentive to be more environmentally conscious and promotes other forms of energy with a lower environmental impact.	28	7
24	11:15 AM‑12:05 PM F Blegen Hall 240	Jacob Strauss	1) Increase the federal gas tax. 2) Use the increased gas tax to subsidize public transportation and renewable energy. 3) Cap and trade on emissions from manufacturing.	The plan will reduce private consumption of gasoline and thereby reduce the negative externalities from gasoline consumption. The money from the tax will be used to increase the usage and availability of public transportation and renewable energy. The cap and trade will limit carbon emissions from manufacturing.	Unanimous
25	09:05 AM‑09:55 AM F Blegen Hall 205	Jacob Strauss	1) Increase the federal gas tax. 2) Use the increased gas tax to subsidize public transportation and renewable energy. 3) Cap and trade on emissions from mining and manufacturing.	The platform's aim is to reduce private consumption of gasoline while increasing the availability of alternatives via the subsidies. In addition, the cap and trade will gradually reduce mining and also limit emissions from manufacturing.	Unanimous
26	09:05 AM‑09:55 AM F Blegen Hall 225	Tomas Rose	Cap and trade proposal to stop deforestation, with a program design on a specific regional-features bases	Forest areas play an essential role in the preservation of the environment, since they absorbe CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, thus constituing a powerfull tool to deal with CO2 emissions. Rather than simply focusing on policies that target the emissions themselves, forest preservation is an alternative way to deal with the problem	21	12
27	09:05 AM‑09:55 AM F Blegen Hall 260	Johanna Swab	Tax on Fuel Inefficient Cars	Since pollution has a negative externality, taxing the purchase of new, personal use cars with low gas mileage will lower the equilibrium quantity towards the socially efficient level.	20	9
28	01:25 PM‑02:15 PM F Blegen Hall 230	Ju Young Yang	a cap and trade system	cap and trade models have the added benefit that those who stay in the market will retain the maximum possible profit that also decreases the carbon output as a whole, as opposed to a tax, which would further decrease their profit by having it go to the government.	21	8
29	01:25 PM‑02:15 PM F Blegen Hall 260	Yan Zhao	The government should subsidize factories up to 25% that switch to solar energy by 2030.	In the past five years, the cost of solar panels has dropped 5% in price, so it will keep becoming less expensive to install and as more factories switch to it, the price will keep getting driven down. Even though switching to renweable is very expensive, it will be cheaper in the long run than if we continue to keep emitted a ton of carbon into the air.	22	10
32	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM F Blegen Hall 140	Hayagreev Ramesh	Command & Control - Have gas tax and enforce the change to electric/hybrid vehicles, construct more charging stations	Reduce carbon emissions to sustainable level
33	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM F Blegen Hall 115	Robert Winslow
34	02:30 PM‑03:20 PM W Blegen Hall 130	Seungyoon Jeong	Propose a transportation and renewable energey subsidy so that cities and states within the US are able to build and sustain more affordable and accessible public transportation and energy sources.	* make people less drive and increased use of mass transportation because of lower cost to access them * Decreased negative externality on carbon emissions. * Can increase employments from the expansion of mass transportation	24	11
35	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM F Blegen Hall 125	Ju Young Yang	a cap and trade system	cap and trade has shown to decrease spending costs on reducing emissions and in a timely manner, whereas gas taxes will cause a price increase as well-subsidizing new ways to produce energy involves increased government spending which could mean increasedother type taxes (sales tax, for example)	20	7
37	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM F Blegen Hall 240	Mahdi Ansari	Cap and Trade	1. Incentivise firms to be more environmentally clean 2. More efficient than imposing tax (in terms of total surplus) since market based 3. Controlling Carbon emission while generating government revenues.	9	9
41	01:25 PM‑02:15 PM F Blegen Hall 240	Omer Ceyhan	Due to the fact that the U.S. pulled out of the Paris Agreement in June 2017, we propose a national level cap-and-trade solution to limiting the amount of carbon emissions in the environment.This market-based policy solution will provide private companies the adequate incentive to solve the problem of their production within a trading scheme.	The allowances will inevitably end up in the hands of the most energy-efficient producers, ensuring that the level of carbon emissions lowers. The rising cost of energy and energy-intensive products will motivate  households and firms to find solutions that reduce the consumption of carbon. The cap will incentivise producers to work efficiently: producers will seek the highest profit possible under the restriction, turning to trade if they need to compensate in dollars for a large amount of carbon emissions (which would otherwise be penalized).	17	6
42	09:05 AM‑09:55 AM F Blegen Hall 335	JOSEPH PEDTKE	Cap and trade, limit on emissions.	Reduses usage of fossil fuels by capping the amount of production/emissions. Countries can trade allowances for production. Lower cost firms (maybe in developed countries) would be able to sell allowances and invest in different technologies. More incentives to use greener technology. Maximizes efficiency in the market relative to other policies. Has worked for other similar issues and more likely to get consensus.	14	17
43	12:20 PM‑01:10 PM F Blegen Hall 110	Mateus Santos	Progressive tax to carbon emission, and subsidize companies that are focused on renewable energy.	The progressive tax would allow people to change their consumption over time, and not an immediate adjustment, causing a smaller economic loss. The gas consumption would not decrease much in the short term (inelastic), but this would change in the long term, including due to adoption of different sources of energy or transportation. The subsidie would incentivize the adoption of green energy.	20	9
45	05:30 PM‑06:20 PM Th Blegen Hall 225	Mateus Santos	Propose the implementation of a cap and trade on the emission of carbon dioxide.	Companies would have economic incentives to reduce their emission and become more efficient. The cap would limit the amount pollution created and the money for the allowances could be used to fund other green forms of energy production.	16	9
55	08:10 PM‑09:00 PM Th Blegen Hall 115	Caitlin Treanor	Cap and Trade + Gas Tax	Cap and Trade allows for more control over the quantity of emissions. It will create incentives to switch to clean power sources. Small gas tax that increases over time to incentivize car owners to invest in more environmentally friendly cars while allowing time to adjust.
63	05:30 PM‑06:20 PM Th Blegen Hall 205	Yan Zhao	subsidize farmers to give up 5% of their land for carbon farming; private research companies like Shell will also be subsidized about $500 million per year for at least 15 years to research large scale bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.	With this subsidy, the companies can then further their research and potentially create the vast machines to cause negative emissions; this will lead to many jobs being created, which will be taxed, helping the economy for all society. Carbon farming has compost covering the land; the compost then absorbs some of the carbon in the air. The bioenergy will create heat and power by burning trees that have carbon stored in them. Carbon capture and storage push carbon emissions deep into the ground. This is a better option for society to invest in because it allows us to keep our standard of living, and it doesn't push back the problem of carbon emissions onto the next generations.	23	8
65	05:30 PM‑06:20 PM T Blegen Hall 205	Hayagreev Ramesh	Tax carbon emissions, increasing tax with time	Deficit reduction, prices reflect cost to society, slow increase gives time to adjust, reduce carbon emissions to sustainable level
67	05:30 PM‑06:20 PM T Blegen Hall 335	Mateus Santos	The subsidie would incentivize the adoption of green energy.	The policy would generate incentives for firms becoming more productives to meet the cap. Also, the market for quotas would allow firms to trade their quotas. It could be implemented in the short-term.	24	4
68	05:30 PM‑06:20 PM Th Blegen Hall 335	Omer Ceyhan	1.U.S. Government gives out a certain amount of Trade Permits / Quota which can be bought and sold. (Permits are to be allocated, not initially purchased from the government to allow businesses to instead invest those funds into sustainable changes to reduce their emissions, allow for the government to hold the power to decide the most efficient way doll out/price Trade Permits and Quota to reduce emissions, and prevent rich corporations from buying up large amounts of permits.). 2.Quota and or a tradable permit price could be standardized across states, or internationally, or not at all (Quota amount and or permit price could be adjusted different based on state, type of business, etc. 3.Amount of Quota and or permit price could be adjusted based on current economic factors and amount of emission reduction after initial results, increased or decreased as needed.	Cap-and-trade is inherently is more flexible, allowing for a smoother market adjustment compared to the implementation of a tax or government regulation, where the costs to businesses are immediate, set and unavoidable, cap-and-trade costs less for corporations than government regulation or taxes, as it allows for period of adjustment, since some corporations take differing amounts of time and require different costs to adjust to the imposed quota. With cap-and-trade, deadweight loss will likely be lower than taxes, regulation or subsides, and overall cost for businesses to reduce of emissions will be lower and more efficient when they can trade among themselves on the free market.	23	6
74	02:30 PM‑03:20 PM W Blegen Hall 415	Jacob Strauss	1. Put subsidies on public transportation and renewable energy. 2. Cap and trade on carbon for the manufacturing sector.	Subsidies will increase the quantity of public transportation and renewable energy to the socially optimal amount; that is the amount that maximizes the positive externality. Cap and trade with tradeable quotes will reduce carbon emissions and allow firms to still maximize surplus under the regime.	16	14