Levy, Michael

<div>http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_A.Levi</div><div>
</div><div><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;"><b>Michael A. Levi</b> "is a fellow for science and technology at the <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Council_on_Foreign_Relations" title="Council on Foreign Relations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Council on Foreign Relations</a>. His interests center on the intersection of science, technology, and foreign policy. He is <b>Director of the Council on Foreign Relations Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, and Project Director for the Council sponsored <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Independent_Task_Force_on_Climate_Change&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Independent Task Force on Climate Change (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Independent Task Force on Climate Change</a>.</b> Dr. Levi also teaches a<b>t Columbia University </b>as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs.</p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">"Dr. Levi was previously a nonresident science fellow and a science and technology fellow in foreign policy studies at The <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Brookings_Institution" title="Brookings Institution" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Brookings Institution</a>. Prior to that, he was director of the <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federation_of_American_Scientists" title="Federation of American Scientists" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Federation of American Scientists</a>' flagship <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Strategic_Security_Project&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Strategic Security Project (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Strategic Security Project</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">"He is the author of the book <i>On Nuclear Terrorism</i> (<a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Harvard_University_Press" title="Harvard University Press" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Harvard University Press</a>, 2007) and coauthor with <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_O%27Hanlon" title="Michael O'Hanlon" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Michael O'Hanlon</a> of <i>The Future of Arms Control</i> (Brookings Institution Press, 2005). His 2005 monograph with <a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_D%27Arcy&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Michael D'Arcy (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Michael D'Arcy</a>, <i>Untapped Potential: U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation with the Islamic World</i>, was the first comprehensive study of science and technology in the Muslim world.</p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;">"Dr. Levi has been invited to<b> testify </b>before Congress and to present expert scientific evidence to the National Academy of Sciences. His essays have been published in Foreign Policy, Nature, Scientific American, and the New Republic, among others. His<b> op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times</b>. Dr. Levi is a regular guest on major television and radio programs and was a technical consultant to the critically acclaimed television drama 24. Dr. Levi holds a<b> PhD in War Studies from the University of London (King’s College), where he was the SSHRC William E. Taylor fellow. He holds an MA in physics from Princeton University, where he studied string theory and cosmology,</b> and a BSc (Hons.) in mathematical physics from Queen’s University (Kingston). He lives in New York." <sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_A.Levi#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a></sup></p><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; background: none;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Resources_and_articles">Resources and articles</span></h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; background: none;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_Sourcewatch_articles">Related Sourcewatch articles</span></h3><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; background: none;"><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span></h3><ol class="references" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_A.Levi#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cfr.org/content/bios/Levi%20NarBio%20-%20Nov%202007.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAQAAAAnOwc2AAAATklEQVR4XmXKQQqAMAwF0X/7XsSz9CSKiyIIFRFcjMmihmiGbB5fqDCaQJ4j46pzYLUWe+cXZ6OVBhTS0srY2Njp/+XxXXZOLu6EUWAOPX1vnwTBe6qQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">Michael A. Levi</a>, Council on Foreign Relations, accessed January 22, 2008.</span></li></ol></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Categories</a>: <ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none none; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-style: none; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Nuclear_PR" title="Category:Nuclear PR" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Nuclear PR</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:United_States" title="Category:United States" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">United States</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://mail.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Nuclear_Issues" title="Category:Nuclear Issues" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Nuclear Issues</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.cfr.org/climate-change/confronting-climate-change/p16362">http://www.cfr.org/climate-change/confronting-climate-change/p16362</a></div><div>
</div><div>2008</div><div><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-family: georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 1; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3">Confronting Climate Change</font></h1><h2 class="subtitle" style="margin: -3px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 0px 7px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); letter-spacing: -1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3">A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy</font></h2><p class="pub-info" style="margin: 16px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chairs: George E. <b>Pataki, Counsel, Chadbourne & Parke LLP, and Thomas J. Vilsack</b>, Of Counsel, Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Director: <a href="http://www.cfr.org/experts/energy-geoeconomics/michael-a-levi/b11890" itemprop="author" rel="author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Michael A. Levi</a>, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Senior Adviser: David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology</p></div><div>
</div><div><h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-family: georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: 27px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Overview</h3><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-family: georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: 27px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Against the backdrop of increasing attention to energy and climate change in the presidential campaigns, recent failure of the Senate to advance the Lieberman-Warner climate bill, and preparations for this summer's G8 summit, a CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force recommends an overhaul of U.S. domestic and foreign policy to confront the challenge.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chaired by former New York governor George E. Pataki and former Iowa governor Thomas J. Vilsack, the Task Force says that the United States must leverage ambitious, comprehensive, and equitable action at home to advance an effective policy abroad.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It lays out a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global climate accord, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">outlining what the United States should be willing to offer and what it should expect others, including the rapidly emerging economies, to do in return.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Task Force cautions, however, that a comprehensive post-Kyoto climate deal will not be easy to conclude, noting: "Even as the United States pursues ambitious and mandatory policies at home, it </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">should not sign on to an emissions cap as part of any global deal that does not include strong commitments to actions from the major emerging economies."</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Even with an agreement, the Task Force concludes that "ensuring that the biggest emitters meet their commitments would still be a monumental task." It thus recommends creating a Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters, including India and China, on implementing aggressive emissions reductions. The partnership would complement efforts in the United Nations to get a global treaty.</p></div></div><div></div><div><article class="publication_spotlight" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 18px 0px 0px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(218, 211, 209); font-size: 15px; font-family: georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><header style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(136, 136, 136); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/innovation/energy-innovation/p23321" class="section" style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(42, 105, 161); text-decoration: none; display: block;">Other Report</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-family: georgia; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); letter-spacing: -1px;"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/innovation/energy-innovation/p23321" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(42, 105, 161); text-decoration: none;">Energy Innovation</a></h3><span class="authors" style="margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px; display: block;">by Michael A. Levi, Elizabeth C. Economy, Shannon K. O'Neil, Adam Segal</span><time pubdate="" datetime="1288889977.000000" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 3px;">November 4, 2010</time></header><section class="short_description" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4;"><div class="cms" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This study examines low-carbon technology innovation and absorption in China, India, and Brazil. It recommends a course for U.S. policy that promotes accelerated innovation and adoption of new technologies while protecting U.S. commercial interests.</div><div class="cms" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div class="cms" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/bios/21/elizabeth_c_economy.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(42, 105, 161); text-decoration: none; line-height: 21px;"><strong>Elizabeth C. Economy</strong></a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"> is C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director, Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her most recent book, </span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21px;">The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future</em></span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, published by Cornell University Press in 2004, was named one of the Top 50 Sustainability Books in 2008 </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">by the University of Cambridge. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of China. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan, her AM from Stanford University, and her BA from Swarthmore College.</span></span></div><div class="cms" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Overview</h3><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px;"><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Low-carbon technology innovation and diffusion are both essential aspects of an effective response to climate change. Studying China, India, and Brazil, Michael A. Levi, Elizabeth C. Economy, Shannon K. O’Neil, and Adam Segal examine how innovation in low-carbon technologies occurs and how the resulting developments are diffused and adopted. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This report zeros in on a critical tension: the United States' interests in encouraging the spread of technology to reduce emissions can clash with efforts to strengthen its own economy. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This tension has traditionally been the province of debates over “technology transfer” and intellectual property rights; this study goes beyond those debates to look at the complete innovation system.</span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The authors begin by exploring each major emerging economy in four different dimensions. First, they examine how efforts to create and manufacture low-carbon technologies do and do not stimulate efforts to deploy those technologies at home. Second, they assess how government policies affect countries' abilities to absorb technologies, looking at policies that create markets, invest in innovation, protect intellectual property rights (IPR), and affect trade and investment barriers. Third, they examine how the economic structure of each major emerging economy affects the country’s ability to respond to climate change through innovation and foreign technology absorption. Fourth, they examine each country's ambitions for technology and product exports, which affect the degree to which U.S. commercial interests are helped or hindered by the spread of technology.</p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The report then assesses a range of policies and offers recommendations. These are aimed at boosting domestic investment in innovation, strengthening active government promotion of technology transfer and diffusion, and promoting an open international system conducive to the commercial spread of technology. Recommendations address IPR, trade and investment rules, government support for research, development and demonstration, standard setting, technology cooperation centers, and multilateral institutions, among other areas.</p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The study also includes detailed case studies of wind technology in all three countries, clean coal in China and India, electric vehicles in China, solar energy in India, and biofuels and deforestation in Brazil.</p></div></div></section></article><article class="publication_spotlight" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 18px 0px 0px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(218, 211, 209); font-size: 15px; font-family: georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><header style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/oil/higher-oil-taxes-would-lift-economy/p29944" class="section" style="color: rgb(42, 105, 161); font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; display: block; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Article</a><h3 style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-family: georgia; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -1px;"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/oil/higher-oil-taxes-would-lift-economy/p29944" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(42, 105, 161); text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Higher Oil Taxes Would Lift the Economy</a></h3><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-weight: inherit;">
</div><div><b><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Authors: </span><a href="http://www.cfr.org/experts/energy-geoeconomics/michael-a-levi/b11890" style="color: rgb(42, 105, 161); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Michael A. Levi</a><span style="line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">, </span><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">David M. Rubenstein</span><font color="#888888"> Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the</font><font color="#ff0000"> Maurice R. Greenberg</font><font color="#888888"> Center for Geoeconomic Studies, and Daniel P. Ahn, Adjunct Fellow for Energy</font></span><br style="line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">February 7, 2013 </span></b><br style="line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><em style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bloomberg</em></div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-weight: inherit;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</em></div><span class="authors" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px; display: block; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">by Michael A. Levi, Daniel P. Ahn</span><time pubdate="" datetime="1360253597.000000" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-weight: inherit; display: block; margin-bottom: 3px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">February 7, 2013</time></header><section class="short_description" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="cms" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="search_term" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 153);">Michael</span> A. Levi and Daniel P. Ahn say, "If lawmakers decide to go ahead with further deficit reduction, they would be remiss not to take a hard look at higher oil taxes as part of the deal."</div><div class="cms" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div><div class="cms" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px;">President <a title="Search News" href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack%20Obama&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(42, 105, 161); text-decoration: none;">Barack Obama</a> this week reaffirmed his desire to<a title="Open Web Site" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/democrats-seek-plan-to-replace-automatic-spending-cuts.html" rel="external" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(42, 105, 161); text-decoration: none;">tackle</a> the U.S. budget deficit through "a balanced mix of spending cuts and more tax reform." As lawmakers in Congress search for ways to do this, they should take a new look at raising oil taxes. Even if they don't believe that the U.S. consumes too much oil, they will find that incorporating higher oil taxes into a broader deficit package can make strong economic sense.</p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px;">The U.S. levies small taxes on gasoline, diesel and jet fuel that add up to less than $10 on each barrel of oil consumed. Yet increasing any of these taxes has long been politically toxic. The result, once inflation is factored in, has been a steady drop in the tax rate on oil use.</p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px;">Economists have argued that higher oil taxes would, in principle, be an efficient way to reduce deficits while curbing oil consumption. Yet few hard numbers have been attached to these claims. And the potential impact of higher oil taxes on economic growth and job creation in a weak economy -- a critical issue given today's still-fragile conditions -- is largely unexamined territory.</p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px;"><strong>Economic Model</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 27px;"><font color="#222222">We've looked into these questions with an economic model that uses quarterly data stretching back to 1952 to extract relationships among several hundred economic and energy indicators. (Our results were </font><a title="Open Web Site" href="http://www.cfr.org/energy/using-oil-taxes-improve-fiscal-reform/p29713" rel="external" style="color: rgb(42, 105, 161); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">published</a><font color="#222222"> this week by the Council on Foreign Relations.) We considered oil taxes in the context of the larger tax system, comparing a range of deficit-reduction packages containing only income-tax hikes and government- spending cuts with a dozen variations that incorporate oil-tax increases. </font><font color="#ff0000">And we found that including oil taxes can bring, through the end of this decade, stronger economic growth, lower unemployment and reduced oil consumption -- even while raising more money</font></p></div></section></article></div><div></div>