It’s election season, which means politicians are busy promising lots of things, including when it comes to energy. Hillary Clinton has pledged to give $30 billion to coal communities if elected; Donald Trump has promised energy independence. We wondered, if these policies actually came to pass, what would the world look like? Are they good ideas or bad ideas?
We decided to ask the experts, at a live Inside Energy event in Laramie, Wyoming in April. We invited four energy economists to weigh in on the presidential candidates’ policy proposals as well as on proposals floated by Wyoming Governor Matt Mead.
Rob Godby and Chuck Mason joined us from the University of Wyoming, Ian Lange from the Colorado School of Mines and Tim Fitzgerald from Texas Tech.
The rules were simple: agree, disagree, why or why not. We’ve summarized what they had to say below, but if you want to know more about why they agree or disagree, listen to the podcast.