Electric Power Resilience: Is More Better?

Abstract

Can we spend too much on transportation and occupational safety, pollution abatement and climate change mitigation? The answer for many, including climate activists, regulators, politicians, and policymakers, is “of course we can't.” How can one doubt that these activities are socially desirable, especially when they could help to avoid cataclysmic outcomes? For an economist, however, it is not so farfetched to think that we can spend too much. The simple Econ 101 explanation is that, at the margin, the additional benefits fall short of the additional costs.