Popp weighs in on Biden's green stimulus spending in NY Times, Guardian

March 31, 2021

The Guardian,The New York Times

David Popp

Public Administration & International Affairs Department

Center for Policy Research

Climate Change

Economic Policy

State & Local

United States

The Guardian

The New York Times

David Popp

President Joe Biden is preparing the details of a new, vastly larger, economic stimulus plan that again would use government spending to unite the goals of fighting climate change and restoring the economy. "Unless they can pair it with a policy that forces people to reduce emissions, a big spending bill doesn’t have a big impact," says David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs. But, he adds, "spending money is politically easier than passing policies to cut emissions." If that "sets up the energy economy in a way that it’s eventually cheaper to reduce emissions, it could create more political support for doing that down the road" by making legislation or regulations less painful, he says. Read more in the New York Times article, "Biden’s Lesson From Past Green Stimulus Failures: Go Even Bigger."

Popp was also interviewed for the Guardian article, "Biden’s $2tn infrastructure plan aims to ‘finally address climate crisis as a nation'."