Daily Clips: January 28th, 2016

Economics might be very wrong about growth: Our team here has often spoken about the need for some serious conceptual change when it comes to conceiving of economic growth (see here & here). In this article, the author tackles the long-held assumptions of economic growth:

the idea of exponential growth rests at the core of essentially all modern theories of growth – theories purporting to explain how capital, labor and technology combine to increase productivity. How valuable can such concepts be if they don’t even get the basic observed pattern of growth right?Perhaps Summers and Gordon are correct that the fast growth seen over the past couple centuries was a unique, unparalleled episode, and that future growth will be much slower about standard economies:

Elizabeth Warren: Anyone Who Says ‘Change Is Just Too Hard’ Is in ‘Bed With the Billionaires’ She’s certainly got a point.

Will Washington Pass nation’s First State-Level Carbon Tax? There will be a ballot initiative in 2016 where Washingtonians can decide whether or not they want to attach a $15-per-ton tax on carbon emissions (which adds up to about 25 cents on a gallon of gas). The levy would gradually rise over the next 40 years.

Tweet of the day:

A student tells Sanders that the case for climate change seems fake to her. "Thank you for the question," he says. "You're wrong."

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 28, 2016