A subject as complex as this is best begun as simply as possible. Would we be as we are with other beginnings? Obviously not. Those countries started as European colonial enterprises that had different beginnings are now Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, etc. We are as we are largely because of the materials from which our society was initially formed. All were transmuted with time, but despite that the original ingredients would remain in the mixture and influence the long-term results. We are still identifiably similar to our colonial ancestors in our institutional structure and behavior regarding economic life. The colonists, in turn, had transplanted their own laws and practices from England. Intellectual and institutional continuity is thus a reality. It is also interesting and sometimes surprising.

Climate policy has favored costly measures that implicitly or explicitly subsidize lowcarbon fuels.We simulate four transportation sector policies: cap and trade (CAT), ethanol subsidies, a renewable fuel standard (RFS), and a lowcarbon fuel standard. Our simulations confirm that alternatives to CAT are 2.5 to 4 times more costly but are amenable to adoption due to right-skewed distributions of gains. We analyze voting on the Waxman-Markey (WM) CAT bill. Conditional on a district’s CAT gains, a district’s RFS gains are negatively correlated with the likelihood of voting for WM. Our analysis supports campaign contributions as a partial mechanism.