Nancy Folbre promotes the notion of green jobs at Economix and then gets down to business.
The biggest gains from investments in new renewable-energy technologies are not easily captured in private transactions, because they produce environmental services that are largely unpriced. Companies can sell consumers with a conscience a “share” in global greenhouse gas reduction – that’s what the growing business of carbon offsets is all about. But consumers who don’t pay also get the benefits, creating a strong temptation to free ride. Companies can’t market to the consumers likely to benefit most, because they haven’t yet been born. Conventional fossil fuels are cost-effective now only because the environmental costs are dumped into a global commons that imposes costs on other people and future generations.
Public policies could remedy this problem, by imposing a tax on carbon emissions so that their market price better approximates their social cost. Adopting clean-energy standards would also increase demand for clean and green production, giving private companies greater incentive to invest.




Nancy Folbre: The Green Jobs Numbers - NYTimes.comeconomix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/the-green-jobs-numbers/Cached
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Sep 12, 2011 – Media Matters, a nonprofit watchdog group, has documented a Fox News report proclaiming that the costs of green jobs exceed the benefits.

Nancy Folbre is spot on in her analysis,especially in the last three paragraphs. However, she should have continued her argument by comparing the costs of the programs with the numerous benefits of them.