Book contents
- Capitalism and the Environment
- Capitalism and the Environment
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 How Capitalism Saves the Environment
- 3 Capital Investments Create Their Own Political Economy
- 4 Bloated Capital
- 5 The Case for Environmental Taxation
- 6 What Should Be Taxed?
- 7 Generating Environmental Knowledge
- 8 Looking Before Leaping
- 9 Conclusion
- Index
8 - Looking Before Leaping
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 December 2021
- Capitalism and the Environment
- Capitalism and the Environment
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 How Capitalism Saves the Environment
- 3 Capital Investments Create Their Own Political Economy
- 4 Bloated Capital
- 5 The Case for Environmental Taxation
- 6 What Should Be Taxed?
- 7 Generating Environmental Knowledge
- 8 Looking Before Leaping
- 9 Conclusion
- Index
Summary
The nature of capital investment is that an upfront expenditure is made with the hope of producing a stream of benefits over time that more than pay for the initial expenditure. Capital investments are thus risky, because that stream of benefits may not materialize. The economic environment may deteriorate, induced by new patterns of trade or a technological advancement creating fresh competition. Or the legal environment may darken, if it is later discovered that the production process is harmful, or if product is harmful in a way that was unknown at the time of investment. When those economic or legal threats present themselves, owners of capital rally to preserve the value of their capital. The bigger the capital, the stronger the rally. When capital owners attempt, through legal, political, or extra-legal means to protect their capital from these changes, they are said to engage in rent-preserving activities. The result is a costly policy conflict.
- Type
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- Information
- Capitalism and the EnvironmentA Proposal to Save the Planet, pp. 199 - 224Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021