High price on carbon only way forward, says economist.
(That's Global Financial Crisis.)
THE US and European economies are heading into a long period of weak growth and corrosive unemployment - and imposing a high price on carbon is the best way to resolve the funk, a visiting Nobel prize-winning economist says.
Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at New York's Columbia University, said the spending cuts and budget restraints increasingly being imposed by western governments were likely to prolong the economic stagnation triggered by the financial crisis.
In a speech titled Road to Ruin, Professor Stiglitz used an address at the Australian National University in Canberra last night to warn that the US government as well as many European governments were pursuing misguided policies in an attempt to rein in their debt.
And while Professor Stiglitz was pessimistic about the prospects for the global economy, he said that strong policies to curb carbon emissions could also help restore growth.
''The one basis for a global recovery, I think, is a high carbon price,'' he said. If governments imposed a tough price on carbon, businesses would have greater certainty to invest in new technology, which would drive growth.
Professor Stiglitz said that Australians had not felt the impact of the economic crisis.
''Here in Australia the only major contribution to the financial crisis was the anagram GFC,'' he said.
Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at New York's Columbia University, said the spending cuts and budget restraints increasingly being imposed by western governments were likely to prolong the economic stagnation triggered by the financial crisis.
In a speech titled Road to Ruin, Professor Stiglitz used an address at the Australian National University in Canberra last night to warn that the US government as well as many European governments were pursuing misguided policies in an attempt to rein in their debt.
And while Professor Stiglitz was pessimistic about the prospects for the global economy, he said that strong policies to curb carbon emissions could also help restore growth.
''The one basis for a global recovery, I think, is a high carbon price,'' he said. If governments imposed a tough price on carbon, businesses would have greater certainty to invest in new technology, which would drive growth.
Professor Stiglitz said that Australians had not felt the impact of the economic crisis.
''Here in Australia the only major contribution to the financial crisis was the anagram GFC,'' he said.
(That's Global Financial Crisis.)
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