In Brief: Economic Insights from Modeling Analyses of H.R. 2454 — the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Waxman-Markey)

January 2010

Economic models are an important tool for evaluating the potential impact of proposed legislation on our economy. This brief compares modeling analyses of the House-passed clean energy and climate bill (H.R. 2454) conducted by seven different groups including government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and an academic institution. It identifies key similarities and differences among these analyses and draws the following conclusions:

• GDP will continue to grow robustly with the passage of the House bill.
• Household income grows robustly across all models with many models finding relatively modest impacts.
• The availability of low-carbon technologies to generate electricity is crucial to minimizing the costs of achieving the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets in the House bill.
• The more offsets included in the program, the lower the costs.
• The degree to which the modeling analyses accurately reflect key provisions in the House bill will impact their estimates of costs.

Download full brief [1] (PDF)