Last April, I did a post discussing the factors behind the severely restricted number of flights between the US and China. In recent months, the US government has allowed more flights, but only under the condition that Chinese airlines fly a much longer route between the two countries. US airlines had complained that they were at a competitive disadvantage, due to their inability to fly over Russian airspace because of the Ukraine sanctions dispute.
US airlines are at a competitive disadvantage, just as US exporters to Hawaii that are limited by the Jones Act are at a competitive disadvantage to Chinese exporters to Hawaii. But would that be a reason to extend the Jones Act to the rest of the world?
Requiring the Chinese airlines to avoid Russian airspace has the following effects:
1. Turning a painful 13-hour flight from the East Coast to China into an excruciating 20-hour marathon.
2. Sharply raising ticket prices.
3. Increasing global warming.
4. Reducing tourism between the two countries.
This last item is especially important, as I believe that tourism is one of the best ways to improve international relations. Covid travel restrictions pushed the world toward nationalism.
The Biden administration suggests that global warming is one of the most severe crises facing the human race. But when it comes to a choice between nationalism and environmentalism, their actions suggest they care more about nationalism. They’ve also put trade barriers on the importation of clean technologies. Don’t tell me what you care about, show me what you care about.
PS. Readers of Kurt Vonnegut may recognize the reference in the post title.
PPS. One recent study estimated the impact of the Jones Act on the Hawaiian economy:
Thanks to this new research, we now know that local families pay almost $1,800 every year because of the act, including $389 for housing costs, $248 for groceries and restaurants, and $62 for gasoline. Overall, the act costs Hawaii’s economy an extra $1.2 billion a year, with side effects including thousands of lost jobs and lower tax revenues for our state and local governments.
READER COMMENTS
David Henderson
Nov 26 2023 at 6:16pm
Great post!
robc
Nov 27 2023 at 9:25am
I agree.
I often read articles here without checking out the byline first. From the title and content, I assumed this was a David Henderson article and was very confused by your comment at first.
Scott Sumner
Nov 27 2023 at 12:10pm
I do that with Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok posts.
Richard Fulmer
Nov 27 2023 at 5:20pm
Excellent! It’s hard to take the climate change doomsayers seriously when they refuse to act as if their claims are true. How many laws and regulations are on the books (e.g., the Jones Act) that require the waste of fuel and energy and that, in effect, mandate unnecessary carbon emissions?
Matthias
Nov 28 2023 at 6:13am
The so-called doomsayers might still be right.
Richard Fulmer
Nov 29 2023 at 1:53pm
If so, then they are their own worst enemies. They promote “solutions” such as corn-based ethanol and biomass that makes the problem worse. They shut down scientific inquiry in the name of science. They ridicule rather than explain. They refuse to take no-regrets actions that would make a difference. They reject nuclear power out of hand. Time after time they make apocalyptic predictions that don’t pan out. In short, they do everything possible to discredit themselves and their cause.
Floccina
Nov 30 2023 at 6:20pm
IMHO most people worried about AGW do not know that the Jones act exists, the politicians do but they care much more about winning the next elections than about AGW and therein lies the problem. In fact we already have a CO2 tax of sorts in the form of CAFE standers which do cost drivers and it is a very inefficient CO2 tax but it’s sufficiently hidden from the voters that it cost the politician’s very little but a visible CO2 tax may cost many votes.
Richard Fulmer
Dec 1 2023 at 9:09am
CAFE standards are yet another government “solution” that made the problem worse; they encouraged automakers to produce, and consumers to buy, trucks and SUVs.
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