by Larry Lohmann

FIRST PUBLISHED JULY 2009 | PDF

Can the financial derivatives markets be regulated? Can the carbon markets be regulated? The questions are parallel, according to this article from the June 2009 issue of Carbon & Climate Law Review. Both markets have involved new attempts at commodification: in the case of the financial markets, commodification of an unprecedented range of uncertainties, and in the case of the carbon markets, commodification of climate benefits or the earth’s carbon-cycling capacity. Regulatory responses inspired by neoclassical economics, which assume that any problems can be handled by “internalizing externalities”, are unlikely to succeed. A more pragmatic approach looks to decommodification in both markets. Both approaches, interestingly, have attracted supporters from wide ranges of the political spectrum.

Source: http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/summary.shtml?x=564977