Son of Waxman-Markey: Why More Politics Makes for a More Costly Cap and Trade Bill

Nicolas Loris / May 20, 2009

After making changes to draft legislation of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade climate legislation, the economic impact of the new draft (the Son of Waxman-Markey) varies from that of the original draft in several major ways:

• Compared to no cap and trade, real GDP losses increase an additional $2 trillion, from $7.4 trillion under the original draft to $9.4 trillion under the new draft;             
• Compared to no cap and trade, average unemployment increases to 1,145,000 lost jobs under the new draft; and                                                                                                                
• Peak-year unemployment losses rise by 500,000 jobs, from 2 million under the original draft to 2.5 million under the new draft.

Here’s why:

(more…)