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Arik Levinson

Arik Levinson is a professor of economics at Georgetown University. He works in the fields of energy economics and environmental… more

H-index: 41
Economics 57%
Energy 15%
ariklevinson.bsky.social
A bittersweet day. Long-time EPA chief economist and @aereorg.bsky.social fellow @AlMcGartland (other site) is retiring. His dedication to practical, public-spirited, and good-humored policymaking will be missed at the EPA. Here's hoping his voice continues to be heard and influence felt.
climatefran.bsky.social
DOE's embarrassment of a "climate science" report is 150 pages where as this response from the scientific community is 500.

My take: It takes much more effort to refute nonsense than it does to generate it, a tax on the time of all who care about fact and accuracy
sites.google.com/tamu.edu/doe...
DOEresponseSite
On July 29, 2025, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a report from its Climate Working Group (CWG). This report features prominently in the EPA's reconsideration of its 2009 Endangerment Finding...
sites.google.com
ariklevinson.bsky.social
3/3 Ergo ... "A pre-tax price of $3 per gallon would imply the marginal social benefit of the fuel is nearly 7 times the ($0.44) marginal social cost."

Huh? That ignores the private cost, presumably around $3. Adding that to even their discounted SCC means *total* social costs exceed $3 by a lot.
ariklevinson.bsky.social
2/3 "assume a relatively high SCC of, say, $75. Deflated by a MCPF value of 1.5 that would result in a carbon tax of $50, which equates to about $0.44 per gallon of gas."

Why are we deflating the SCC by the deadweight loss from raising revenue? (Also, since when is $75 "relatively high"?)
ariklevinson.bsky.social
Three amazing points in one paragraph of the DOE report on GHGs.

www.energy.gov/articles/dep...

1/3 The Social Cost of Carbon "is not intended to measure the private marginal benefits ... of fossil fuels." Correct! (But not relevant. That's why it's the called the Social *Cost* of Carbon.)
ariklevinson.bsky.social
👇especially #6 and #7.

6. Clear writing comes from clear thinking.

7. If readers don’t understand your writing, that’s your fault, not theirs.
crampell.bsky.social
Some professional news: After more than a decade of columnizing at The Washington Post, I'm taking the buyout.
This is my last column. It is my advice to any other lucky pundits who land a perch like this -- with 11 principles I've aspired to, even if I haven't always achieved them:
wapo.st/3TU2fGw
Opinion | 11 tips for becoming a columnist
Here’s my advice for handling the awesome responsibility of this job.
wapo.st
crampell.bsky.social
Some professional news: After more than a decade of columnizing at The Washington Post, I'm taking the buyout.
This is my last column. It is my advice to any other lucky pundits who land a perch like this -- with 11 principles I've aspired to, even if I haven't always achieved them:
wapo.st/3TU2fGw
Opinion | 11 tips for becoming a columnist
Here’s my advice for handling the awesome responsibility of this job.
wapo.st
ariklevinson.bsky.social
Brander and Taylor (1988): tariffs on imports of open-access resources can be pareto-improving. Now @prakrati.bsky.social shows the converse empirically in #JAERE. Bans on environmental service exports (waste imports) can be environmentally beneficial.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
Global Impact of a Unilateral Waste Trade Regulation | Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu
ariklevinson.bsky.social
WaPo op-ed supports Carbon Tariffs for three reasons (and my rebuttals):
1. Revenue (that's all tariffs, not just carbon tariffs)
2. Protect US industry (again, all tariffs)
3. The US has no domestic carbon price (huh?)

wapo.st/46bDgWo
Opinion | A carbon tariff is the right way to confront China on trade
Climate-friendly tariffs would penalize countries that undercut U.S. companies with dirtier production.
wapo.st
ariklevinson.bsky.social
Tax cuts that balance the federal budget:

Year 1) Pass 10-year budget that cuts taxes in yr 1 and raises them in yrs 2-10.
Year 2) Treat yr 1 as baseline, pass new budget that cuts taxes in yr 2 and raises them in yrs 3-11.
Year 3) Treat yr2 as baseline, .... you get the idea.

Problem solved!

Reposted by: Arik Levinson

joshgerstein.bsky.social
NEW: Judge orders release of Georgetown's Badar Khan Suri, saying Trump admin went after him on social media but produced no evidence he's affiliated with Hamas or poses a danger. DOJ said case belongs in immigration court not USDC. w/@kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

Reposted by: Arik Levinson

cwolfram.bsky.social
UK sanctioning "as many as 100 oil tankers that it says are part of a shadow fleet of vessels helping Russia to move its oil," which could expand the number of ships the country has designated by up to 75%.

With increased enforcement and lower oil prices, It would be a great time to lower the cap.
UK to Sanction Up to 100 Oil Tankers in Russia’s Shadow Fleet
The UK sanctioned senior executives in an oil trading network it says has been helping Moscow keep exports flowing, part of sweeping measures that will also include up to 100 ships.
www.bloomberg.com
ariklevinson.bsky.social
@ezrakleinbot.bsky.social and @dkthomp.bsky.social get this wrong in 𝐴𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒: “... in the late 1970s, home construction started to fall behind the pace of population growth.” Actually, the number of US dwellings grew faster than population in the 70s and 80s, and kept pace in the 90s.
Plot showing housing growth faster than population growth.
ariklevinson.bsky.social
Spectacular paper. Congrats.

"Uncertainty" (my scare quotes) has been wielded rhetorically by opponents of regulation. But one way to reduce regulatory uncertainty is to stop opposing the regulation.

Now Ashley et al. show that regulatory uncertainty can prolong unprofitable investments.
alanger.bsky.social
Recently the President ordered that coal generators don’t need to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS). My forthcoming JPE paper with Gautam Gowrisankaran and Wendan Zhang on uncertainty surrounding MATS, so it seems like it’s time for a thread! www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy
1.  Coal-fired electricity generation is essential to ensuring that our Nation's grid is reliable and that electricity is affordable for the
www.whitehouse.gov
alanger.bsky.social
Recently the President ordered that coal generators don’t need to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS). My forthcoming JPE paper with Gautam Gowrisankaran and Wendan Zhang on uncertainty surrounding MATS, so it seems like it’s time for a thread! www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy
1.  Coal-fired electricity generation is essential to ensuring that our Nation's grid is reliable and that electricity is affordable for the
www.whitehouse.gov
ariklevinson.bsky.social
If the paper title has a question mark, is the answer ever "yes"?
(See what I did there.)
aka "Betteridge's law"
voxdev.bsky.social
🆕 Do carbon offsets work? Evidence from the world’s largest offset programme

Today on VoxDev, Raphael Calel (Georgetown University), Jonathan Colmer (University of Virginia), Antoine Dechezleprêtre (OECD) & Matthieu Glachant (Mines Paris) outline research on India: voxdev.org/topic/energy...
Do carbon offsets work? Evidence from the world’s largest offset programme
Carbon offset programmes allow polluters to pay others to reduce emissions on their behalf. In theory, this can achieve the same emissions reductions at a lower cost, but only if the payment actually ...
voxdev.org
voxdev.bsky.social
🆕 Do carbon offsets work? Evidence from the world’s largest offset programme

Today on VoxDev, Raphael Calel (Georgetown University), Jonathan Colmer (University of Virginia), Antoine Dechezleprêtre (OECD) & Matthieu Glachant (Mines Paris) outline research on India: voxdev.org/topic/energy...
Do carbon offsets work? Evidence from the world’s largest offset programme
Carbon offset programmes allow polluters to pay others to reduce emissions on their behalf. In theory, this can achieve the same emissions reductions at a lower cost, but only if the payment actually ...
voxdev.org
ariklevinson.bsky.social
Electricity use that is clean-ish, but not *clean*.
nber.org
NBER @nber.org · Mar 13
A "three pillars" system for crediting clean electricity purchases (nearby generation, same-hour timing, and newly constructed power plants) would reduce emissions by 30-43 percent below average, from Karl Dunkle Werner and Arik Levinson https://www.nber.org/papers/w33546

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Fields & subjects

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