CFACT at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts invited David Tuerck, founder of the free market Beacon Hill Institute and economics professor at Suffolk University to discuss relevant Massachusetts environmental issues.
He primarily discussed subsidies for electric cars, which the State of Massachusetts has gone “all-in” on.
“Massachusetts subsidies electric cars, and what we found was 80% of these subsidies go to the richest people in the state,” Tuerck explained. “Driving electric cars is something you do when you live in Lexington and want to show up at a cocktail party.”
Aubrey Kenderdine, a senior at the University and one of CFACT’s Driessen Fellows, invited Tuerck to help her peers better understand the issues at hand in Boston and the State as a whole. “We all care about the environment, but we have to be smart about what policies we pursue,” Aubrey explained. “Professor Tuerck was great in relating to these students, who all really are passionate about economics, on really looking at the costs and benefits of things like subsidies and energy.”
“It doesn’t make any sense to be subsidizing certain boutique industries,” Tuerck continued. “For example wind power: my institute was partly instrumental in stopping the project that would put up 130 wind turbines…We did a cost-benefit analysis and the costs are always going to be twice the benefits. I take a lot pride that we were on the opposite of that issue and it got killed. It’s a great thing for Massachusetts…That’s another example of a project where it’s unquestionably more costly than the benefits to society, including the costs of global warming.”
CFACT’s Driessen Fellows program helps empower students around the nation who have a passion for advancing the free market, pro-energy principles discussed by Paul Driessen, author of Eco-Imperialism and advocate for the rights of individuals in developing nations all over the world.
Aubrey will be missed as she graduates this semester. Best of luck Aubrey!