In economic parlance, this is known as a Pigovian tax, because it is meant to correct an undesirable outcome in the market, or what the British economist
Arthur Pigou defined as a negative externality -- in this case, the greenhouse-gas emissions that are responsible for global warming.
Thinkers surveyed include
Arthur Pigou, John Maynard Keynes, Alvin Hansen, Abba Lerner, Richard Musgrave, as well as others.
After the chapter "treating citizens as equals," Scheve and Stasavage review classic theoretical writing on taxation--including
Arthur Pigou, Francis Edgeworth, John Stuart Mill, and Edwin Seligman--in order to present the ability to pay, equal treatment, and compensatory principles.
Going back to the work of noted British economist
Arthur Pigou, economic experts have advocated subsidizing activities with positive spillovers and taxing those with negative spillovers.
Barnes's inspirations include Thomas Paine's social insurance schemes of the 18th century, British economist
Arthur Pigou's pioneering work on taxing pollution in the early 20th century, and Francis Townsend's idea in the 1920s for a universal pension.
By that year, Marshall had already been retired as Professor of Economics for four years, and Robertson's economics teachers were
Arthur Pigou and John Maynard Keynes.
There are two kinds of externalities: pecuniary externalities advocated by Alfred Marshall and technical externalities advocated by
Arthur Pigou that are further classified into positive and negative technical externalities.
Like
Arthur Pigou and other classical British economists, Stern uses a near-zero discount rate in summing future costs and benefits.
