Alex Tabarrok reviews AIR: Pollution, Climate Change and India’s Choice Between Policy and Pretense
— Blog Post — 1 min read
Alex Tabarrok, a professor of economics at the George Mason University, recently reviewed Dean’s latest book Air: Pollution, Climate Change and India's Choice Between Policy and Pretence on his blog Marginal Revolution. He lauds Dean’s efforts in ‘accurately explain academic work’ in a manner which can be understood by everyone, and that by combing the core ideas with ‘on-the-ground reporting’ has rendered this book ‘both informative and full of human interest.’ An excerpt from the review:
“One of the things I like about Air is that it is clear that pollution in India is both a market failure and a government failure. The government has been slow to respond to pollution because much of the public remains unaware of pollution’s true cost and much of the true cost is born by children and future people who have no vote. In the meantime, the government enhances rational ignorance by refusing to fund even the most basic equipment to measure where and when pollution ebbs and flows. Instead the government engages in virtue-politics by banning plastic bags and creating odd-even restrictions on driving in Delhi. These activities are pointless, even counter-productive, but they are well publicized and the appearance of doing something matters more than reality.”