New Study of the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Bill

We’re pleased to release our latest study today, examining the economic impact on U.S. households of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill (H.R. 2454).

The study is basically a critique of recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) distributional estimates that suggest the bill’s impact is likely to be progressive across income groups. We find the bill is much more likely to be regressive across income groups once the microeconomic response of regulated public utilities is taken into account. Under this framework, we estimate the bill will result in net benefits to the nation’s highest-earning 20 percent of earners, while imposing net costs on the lowest-earning 80 percent of U.S. households.

Check out the full study and news release here.