California's ten-year-old Cap and Trade Program (CATP) has two main goals: 1) reduce emissions 2) promote economic growth. Two British researchers examined the effects of the program on a regional level, and find it's missing both goals.
Danilo Mascia at the University of Leeds and Enrico Onali at the University of Exeter pulled in piles of numbers for their recent publication. They find little difference county-by-county in either emissions or economic growth between California counties under CATP and counties in neighboring states not regulated by the program.
We spend some time with the researchers to drill further into their findings, and what changes in policy might be indicated.