A few days ago, I was quoted in an AP story as saying that scientists as scientists are in no position to dictate federal policy to address global warming. A rather predictable outcry followed, prompting my defense here.

Amazingly enough, that somewhat provocatively titled post did not soothe the savage environmental beasts. Michael Tobis, a climate scientist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, posted a rather angry shot over at Grist (the preeminent gathering place for environmentalists on the web) arguing that economists and economic analysis have absolutely nothing to add to the policy conversation about global warming. An editor over at Grist kindly invited me to respond, so I Fisked the man and responded to the commentary about two-thirds of the way down the page in a post titled “Taylor Defends Taylor.”

What exactly informs this “economists are a plague upon mankind” view of the environmental Left? My guess is that it is a combination of things. First, environmentalists deeply resent the fact that anyone would presume to put a price tag on things they value. Second, many environmentalists do not understand economics very well and thus fall for all sorts of cartoonish depictions about what economists do and what they think. Third, economic analysis does not support many environmental fantasies about the future of humankind under either the “business as usual” scenario or under the environmentalists’ vision of the Book of (Environmental) Revelation.

Of course, speaking of “economists” generically — as if all economists are alike — is as dubious as speaking of “environmentalists” generically. If the environmental Left really wants an informed criticism of economics, they would do well to pick up Robert Nelson’s Economics As Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond.