Markets vs. Mandates Conference

Terry Anderson, John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow, gave opening remarks at the Hoover Institution’s Markets v. Mandates conference he co-organized with Dominic Parker, Ilene and Morton Harris Visiting Fellow.

Hoover Institution director Condoleezza Rice provided introductory remarks at the Hoover Institution’s Markets vs. Mandates conference. She referred to the proceedings as a relaunch of Hoover’s research on environmental policy challenges.

Visiting Fellow Dominic Parker gave a presentation that explored the trade-offs of both market-driven and mandate approaches to environmental policies.

Senior Fellow Terry Anderson (right) and Visiting Fellow Dominic Parker (left) on stage during the conference’s first session, “Thinking Clearly about Markets and Mandates.”

Sanjai Bhagat, professor of finance at the University of Colorado–Boulder, explained that investments based on ESG principles are consistently low performing because they are not based on the fiduciary duty of maximizing shareholder value.

Sanjai Bhagat, professor of finance at the University of Colorado (right) and John Cochrane, Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow, participate in the conference’s second session, “Corporate Responsibility, ESG Investing, and Climate Disclosures.” John Taylor, George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economic Policy, was the session’s chair.

Senior Fellow John Cochrane asserted that the desire of many government regulators who want to enforce ESG investment practices isn’t based on “saving the planet” but on bending corporations to serve a particular political agenda.

A member of the audience asks a question to presenters at the Hoover Institution’s Markets vs. Mandates conference.

Maria Waldinger, deputy director of the Ifo Center for Labor and Demographic Economics (Germany), provided historical analysis of how societies have adapted to climate conditions.

Matthew Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences, University of Southern California, outlined to the audience how markets can provide optimal incentives for adaption to climate change and reduce its economic effects.

Christopher Costello (center), distinguished professor of resource economics at the University of California–Santa Barbara, and Buzz Thompson (left), Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law at Stanford University, articulated the advantages of markets over regulatory approaches to conservation and mitigation of harms inflicted on the environment. They also described how environmental markets can benefit poor populations. Visiting Fellow Dominic Parker (right) was the chair of the discussion.

Mark Mills, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, explained that the rapid transition to renewable resources would require a level of mineral extraction never seen in history.

Neil Chatterjee, former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, chaired the panel “Adding Economics to Energy Engineering” with Mark Mills, senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, and David Victor, professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California–San Diego.

David Victor, professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California–San Diego, described the fragmented policy action in countering various pollutants that are responsible for global warming.

Senior Fellow Steven Koonin described his research countering the prevailing narrative that the globe is on the brink of a climate catastrophe.

Milbank Family Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson argued that no meaningful action on climate change can occur without restraining China, which has increased its emissions of carbon dioxide to a level that exceeds the reductions by the United States and the European Union combined.

Ronald Bailey, science correspondent of Reason magazine, chaired the panel discussion “Reality and Rhetoric in Environmental Discourse,” featuring senior fellows Niall Ferguson (left) and Steven Koonin (right).

Matt Ridley argued that C02 may provide more benefits than costs to the environment.