Stavins on Senate climate bill: "82% of the value of allowances accrue to consumers and public purposes, and some 18% accrue to covered, private industry."

Harvard economist Robert Stavins analyzes the American Power Act's allowance distribution in this repost .  Here are his main conclusions:

Going forward, many observers and participants in the policy process may continue to question the wisdom of some elements of the Kerry-Lieberman proposal, including its allowance allocation.  There's nothing wrong with that.

But let's be clear that, first, for the most part, the specific allocation of free allowances affects neither the...