Chasing Rainbows, ?How the Green Agenda Defeats its Aims
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Review
Tim Worstall is one of the few right-wing writers on economics leftish readers can bring themselves to read although we often hate ourselves (and him) for doing it. Although he takes a butcher's cleaver to many sacred cows of green thinking, his work is animated by a true concern about how to solve the great environmental challenges of our age --Nick Cohen, author of 'Waiting for the Etonians'
Fearless, fresh, forensic and funny, Tim Worstall cuts through all the nonsense and brings sparkling and profound economic insights to the environmental debate. Read this book. --Matt Ridley, author of 'The Rational Optimist'
Tim Worstall is asking the right questions, and often producing the right answers. Jaw-droppingly rude he may be, but he's smart, and this book is quite an education. --Tim Harford, author of 'The Undercover Economist'
Fearless, fresh, forensic and funny, Tim Worstall cuts through all the nonsense and brings sparkling and profound economic insights to the environmental debate. Read this book. --Matt Ridley, author of 'The Rational Optimist'
Tim Worstall is asking the right questions, and often producing the right answers. Jaw-droppingly rude he may be, but he's smart, and this book is quite an education. --Tim Harford, author of 'The Undercover Economist'
Product Description
Chasing Rainbows looks at what the commonly held beliefs are about what we should do to avoid, curtail or adapt to global warming and compares them to what we should actually be doing. This is not an argument about the science: Worstall leaves that entirely to others to debate. Rather, what guides and indications can we get from the economics already embedded in such things as the IPCC reports and the Stern Review. The answers will shock some: globalisation is part of the cure for climate change. Recycling of some things certainly saves resources but of domestic waste actually wastes them. Creating green jobs is not a benefit but a cost of our actions. Drawing on the official reports that most agree is the scientific consensus and adding insights from economic theory, Worstall is able to show that much of what we're told we should do to save the planet is in fact wrong, diametrically opposed in many cases to what we should really be doing. It's not only desirable to have a cleaner, greener, richer world, it's also possible, and Worstall lays out what we need to do to achieve this. The 'Bishop Hill' blog recommended that this book 'should probably be gifted to every teenager as they leave the school system', while 'Stumbling and Mumbling' wrote that '...there are some brilliant flourishes. His idiot cousin metaphor for comparative advantage verges on the genius.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This isn't a "sceptic" book in that it accepts all the "consensus" science and policies of the IPCC and Lord Stern. What it does is show what simple economics tells us we should be doing to implement them. The economics are not controversial either, they are completely mainstream and well accepted.
The conclusions are surprising though. The most vocal of campaigners and policy makers are proposing the wrong solutions. That is why it will bet lumped as a "denier book" and ignored.
But don't ignore it, not only is it important, it is an easy read and an enjoyable one. This isn't some dry dusty tome but a short gallop, whooping and hollering across the landscape pointing out interesting asides and unexpected truths. You don't need to know any economics to appreciate it just an open mind.
The conclusions are surprising though. The most vocal of campaigners and policy makers are proposing the wrong solutions. That is why it will bet lumped as a "denier book" and ignored.
But don't ignore it, not only is it important, it is an easy read and an enjoyable one. This isn't some dry dusty tome but a short gallop, whooping and hollering across the landscape pointing out interesting asides and unexpected truths. You don't need to know any economics to appreciate it just an open mind.
16 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This noisy polemic is by Tim Worstall, member of the Adam Smith Institute, press officer for the UKIP and commodity trader. He's not a climate scientist, so it's safe to ignore him.
Except... he's an economist, and a good one. And here he examines the recommendations of the global warming lobby through the lens of some really basic economic axioms.
Seen through the optic of Smith's needle factory, Bastiat's broken windows and Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage, all (ALL) the prescriptions for reducing global warming are wrong. Farmers' markets, green subsidies, compulsory sterilisation and one world government are "remedies" which will not achieve their aims and will make us much poorer.
This book is likely to be bought and read only by committed deniers, which is a pity. It should (and can - there is no math) be read by anyone without any grounding in economics. I would recommend it to our ruling class. What did we do to deserve such pig ignorant bosses?
Except... he's an economist, and a good one. And here he examines the recommendations of the global warming lobby through the lens of some really basic economic axioms.
Seen through the optic of Smith's needle factory, Bastiat's broken windows and Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage, all (ALL) the prescriptions for reducing global warming are wrong. Farmers' markets, green subsidies, compulsory sterilisation and one world government are "remedies" which will not achieve their aims and will make us much poorer.
This book is likely to be bought and read only by committed deniers, which is a pity. It should (and can - there is no math) be read by anyone without any grounding in economics. I would recommend it to our ruling class. What did we do to deserve such pig ignorant bosses?
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a trained nothing, but sceptical of most heavily promoted theories and "sciences". Having read Tim's blog for years, and had some small correspondence with him, I bought this book and read it with ease and enjoyment. I recommend it to anyone except climate religionists. Alan Douglas
Most Recent Customer Reviews
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This is a truly dreadful book. The first problem is that it is written in the style of an unsophisticated sixth former who thinks he has just discovered the ultimate truths of the... Read more
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A well-written summary of environmental economics. Sets the myths against the hard-headed economic realities in a way that non-economists can easily understand. Read more
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Probably most of us reading this book at this point are familiar with Tim Worstall's blog, and the contents are reassuringly familiar - brusque, sometimes rude, to the point, and... Read more
Published 16 months ago by T. J. Jones
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