June 25, Michael Davis, economics professor at SMU Dallas Cox School of Business, for a piece recommending that green energy advocates would be better served by pursuing carbon tax policy than by calling for higher oil prices to combat fossil fuels. Published in the Orange County Register with the headline: Carbon taxes better than assigning artificial political risk: https://bit.ly/3B4nP0u
“Some investors are wagering that Wall Street’s preference for green energy will depress spending on oil extraction, setting the stage for supply shortages and higher fuel prices.” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2021Wait, what? Oil prices are shooting up and likely to stay up, but “Wall Street’s preference for green energy” will depress spending on oil extraction?
Big if true.
And also more than a little weird. Investors tend to be a self-interested group. If there’s money to be made, they will try to make it. There’s a reason the fictional Gordon “Greed is good” Gekko owned an investment fund and not a chain of Burger Kings. If in normal times the price of a key commodity like oil went up, the Wolves of Wallstreet would be happy to supply the industry with loads of cash.
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