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Greg Mankiw, our friend in most matters who has gone around the bend with his love affair with a carbon tax, coos over the latest bad news from Washington. He quotes the Washington Post's ultra-liberal columnist Sebastian Mallaby:

On Saturday I put the case for a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system to James Connaughton, the head of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House. Far from denouncing these policies as eco-socialist nonsense, Connaughton sounded open to them. "In concept I can agree with you," he said. Something must be done to stem demand for climate-warming energy, and although there are several ways of getting there, a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would be the most "elegant."

Mankiw's comment:

I would bet against seeing any sensible increase in Pigovian taxation over the next two years, but if mainstream Republicans like Jim Connaughton appreciate the elegance of the idea, there is always hope.

The problem here is that Mankiw is so taken by the "elegance" of the economic theory involved that he wants to see these taxes implemented simply for the sake of elegance, whether or not there's any need for it. Mankiw has an elegant hammer. To him, the world is a nail.

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