Perverse Subsidies: How Tax Dollars Can Undercut the Environment and the Economy

by Norman Myers, Jennifer Kent

Much of the global economy depends upon large-scale government intervention in the form of subsidies, both direct and indirect, to support specific industries or economic sectors. Distressingly, many of these subsidies can be characterized as “perverse” -- rather than helping society achieve a desired goal, they work in the opposite direction, causing damage to both our economies and our environments. Worldwide subsidies have long been thought to total $2 trillion per year, but until now, no attempt has been made to determine what proportion of that actually subverts the public interest.In Perverse Subsidies , leading environmental analyst Norman Myers takes a detailed look at the subject, offering a comprehensive view of subsidies worldwide with a particular focus on the extent, causes, and consequences of perverse subsidies. He defines many different kinds of subsidies, from tax incentives to government handouts, and considers their wide-ranging impacts, as examines the role of subsidies in policymaking quantifies the direct costs of perverse subsidies examines the major subsidies in agriculture, energy, road transportation, water, fisheries, and forestry considers the environmental effects of those subsidies offers policy advice and specific recommendations for eliminating harmful subsidies .The book provides a valuable framework for evaluation of perverse subsidies, and offers a dramatic illustration of the scale and dimensions of the problem. It will be the standard reference on those subsidies for government reform advocates, policy analysts, and environmentalists, as well as for scholars and students interested in the interactions between policymaking and environmental issues.

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Norman Myers (born 24 August 1934 – 20 October 2019) was a British environmentalist specialising in biodiversity and also noted for his work on environmental refugees. He lived in Kenya for over 30 years and later settled in Headington, Oxford, England. Myers's work has ranged over diverse critical global issues and includes 18 books and over 250 scientific papers [bio sketch copied & shortened from en.wikipedia.org]

https://www.iucn.org/news/species/201...

Reviews

[Shailly Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Perverse Subsidies: How Misused Tax Dollars Harm the Environment and The Economy" by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent is a great introduction to economics and the environment for someone who is very unfamiliar with the field. The book is split into 3 parts, all of which are in great detail and easy to understand language. The first part introduces topics that are discussed throughout the rest of the book. Part two includes a lot of information and case studies. A lot of statistics that are given are from 20-30 years ago so it is possible that a lot of them are irrelevant at this time. The third part talks about possible solutions to the perverse subsidies have been discussed in full over the course of the book. A lot of the solutions mentioned were not fully thought out, also in very little detail. I think if this part of the book were longer than I would have had a chance to fully understand the proposed solutions. I think that this book is very informational and educational, but the reader should keep in mind that the statistics are outdated and it is likely that all of the mentioned problems have gotten far worse over the years. Overall, I learned a lot about the economy for someone who had little to no knowledge to begin with.

[Shawn Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perverse Subsidies by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent serves as an effective introduction into a supremely murky field. The three parts of the book are relatively straightforward to a reader with a grasp on basic economic concepts. The first part in particular sets the stage for the rest of the book, with part two comprising the bulk of it. There, a plethora of statistics and miniature case studies give insight into the authors' thought process, but my concern is in the relevance of the data to current times, especially since many of their numbers were estimates due to the lack of transparency regarding subsidies.
After reading the book recently in 2020, I believe it is necessary to revisit some of their predictions and compare them with statistics since 2001. Specifically, they noted that the solar power industry was gaining traction in 2001 and that governments around the world had pledged to install x hundred thousand or million solar panels by 2010. Now, solar energy is still underdeveloped, although the White House changing hands may have some positive implications for that front. In fact, even before the election, solar stocks like SunRun and Sunnova have seen explosive growth in 2020. It remains to be seen if President elect Biden will subsidize the solar industry, and if so, if such subsidies will end up being perverse.
Finally, the third and last part goes over some possible solutions to the extensively discussed perverse subsidies in the previous parts, but with only 9 pages, many points feel unsupported or inconclusive. I would have liked to see perhaps even fewer solutions, just instead fully developed rather than a paragraph or two under a subheading.

[Andrew Rizzuto · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Perverse Subsidies" by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent supply their readers with a light into the very confusing field of perverse subsidies and what they are. The book starts with the introduction. This is where the idea of a perverse subsidy is first explored. We were given simple examples from across the globe and told in detail what a perverse subsidy was. We learned they are typically environmentally harmful. The book is 20-30 years old so it would be interesting to see how the data stands up compared to perverse subsidies now. I assume infrastructure improvements have happened since and developed countries could have fixed some problems. In comparison though the numbers could have gotten exponentially larger as the co2 omissions rose and caused more climate change. In the second part, they use more real-world scenarios and point to data. One thing discussed was the rising solar industry and its possible benefits, now we actually have data to use as evidence to those benefits since time has passed. The third and last section was very short, about 10 pages, and it went over solutions. I think there weren't that many easy solutions since perverse subsidies are something always applying a negative effect to every aspect of our lives. Overall I think the story was a professional way to educate the commonwealth about something influencing themselves.

[AustinP · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that the book, "Perverse Subsidies: How Misused Tax Dollars Harm The Environment And The Economy" by Norman Myers, was a great informational book. However the reason I did not give the book a 5 star was because the way that the book was written and delivered was a little bit hard to follow along with. This could be due to advanced vocabulary. Norman did touch upon many different subsidies such as; fisheries, forestry, water, agriculture, energy, road transportation, (etc.). I think that if a student needed to do a project on how government money is used in environmental issues, this book would be a great read. I would like to see how the information would change because the book is relatively old and how the solutions to the problems with subsidies would change and be encouraged.