In a recent article by Kenneth Green at the American Enterprise Institute, he discusses the failure of the European experiment in "green jobs", and its implications for Obama's attempts to create them. The article is lengthy, so I offer the conclusion below for those who don't wish to wade through it. Note: his comment about "breaking windows" is a reference to French economist Frederic Bastiat's fallacy of the broken window, which is explained in the article.
Conclusion
Both economic theory and the experience of European countries that have attempted to build a green-energy economy that will create green jobs reveal that such thinking is deeply fallacious. Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark have all tried and failed to accomplish positive outcomes with renewable energy. Some will suggest that the United States is different, and that US planners will have the wisdom to make the green economy work here. But there is no getting around the fact that you do not improve your economy or create jobs by breaking windows, and US planners are no more omniscient than those in Europe.
The Myth of Green Energy Jobs: The European Experience
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