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American Politics

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Climate change

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Climate Trailblazer Or Corporate Giveaway: An Economic And Political Evaluation Of Cap-And-Trade In California, Benjamin Reicher Jan 2022

Climate Trailblazer Or Corporate Giveaway: An Economic And Political Evaluation Of Cap-And-Trade In California, Benjamin Reicher

Pomona Senior Theses

In this thesis, I conduct an economic and political analysis of California’s cap-and-trade program, the leading national (and international) example of a market-based strategy to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. I evaluate the program on several economic and political measures of success, especially as contrasted with the performance of various regulatory policies that California also relies on to meet its emissions reduction targets. These regulations exemplify a command and control approach to emissions mitigation as opposed to a market-based approach, and indeed tend to be favored by grassroots activists who may be skeptical about market-friendly policies; my thesis seeks to …


Dismantling The Climate Denial Machine: Theory And Methods, David A. Mickolas Apr 2017

Dismantling The Climate Denial Machine: Theory And Methods, David A. Mickolas

Senior Theses and Projects

Many Americans do not believe in the existence of climate change, and even those who believe climate change exists often seriously underestimate its potential harms as predicted by the world's best scientific organizations. Most political scholars agree that much higher consensus among American citizens is necessary to create necessary policy reform to mitigate climate change, both in the US and at large. However, there are also organizations who actively wish to deter and decrease belief in climate change among US citizens, not for the sake of scientific skepticism, but for personal benefit from preventing policy reform. This text examines what …


Would You Like It Hot Or Cold? An Analysis Of U.S.-China Climate Policy, Alice Chang Jan 2015

Would You Like It Hot Or Cold? An Analysis Of U.S.-China Climate Policy, Alice Chang

CMC Senior Theses

As the world’s largest emitters and economies, the United States and China play a critical role in global climate mitigation. Using Putnam’s two-level game showcases how the domestic political context of each country impacts their international policies. However, Putnam’s framework does not differentiate between bilateral and multilateral circumstances. The clarity and concentration of perceived costs and benefits for the United States and China from climate policies lead to differing outcomes on the multilateral and bilateral stage. Fear of the free-rider effect makes players assume payoffs that resemble the Prisoner’s Dilemma during multilateral climate negotiations, whereas bilateral negotiations usually result in …