Lying About Global Warming: It’s a Good Thing!

Various warmists have let the cat out of the bag over the years, acknowledging that they exaggerate the danger of global warming for the sake of the greater good. But for the first time, two scientists have published a peer-reviewed paper in an academic journal, advocating lying about global warming. The scientists are Fuhai Hong and Xiaojian Zhao, the publication is the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. The full article is not available online, but here is the abstract:

It appears that news media and some pro-environmental organizations have the tendency to accentuate or even exaggerate the damage caused by climate change. This article provides a rationale for this tendency by using a modified International Environmental Agreement (IEA) model with asymmetric information. We find that the information manipulation has an instrumental value, as it ex post induces more countries to participate in an IEA, which will eventually enhance global welfare. From the ex ante perspective, however, the impact that manipulating information has on the level of participation in an IEA and on welfare is ambiguous.

Which is to say, apparently, that lying is fine as long as it works. I will have to track down a copy of the article to see how the authors justify this less than edifying, but typically liberal, conclusion.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses