The report also assesses the poor record
of voluntary restraint and shareholder activism in reining in CEO compensation.
The trade czar nominee first achieved prominence as deputy USTR under Ronald Reagan, helping
negotiate voluntary restraints on European and Asian steel exports to the United States in the mid-1980s.
According to Tainter, however, such taxes will never fly in the U.S.: «The Jevons Paradox can not be circumvented
through voluntary restraint or any other laissez - faire approach.
The report assesses the poor record
of voluntary restraint and shareholder activism in reining in CEO compensation.
Of course, there is a way to avoid this prospect:
voluntary restraint.
The appeal to
voluntary restraint or to conscience is sell - defeating, putting each into a double bind.
Such a general provision, according to the EMB, could be based on
a voluntary restraint on supply, linked to positive incentives.
The EMB's MRP has been drawn up for the dairy sector, which includes
a voluntary restraint on supply in response to a crisis.
I agree with the authors of The Myth of Resource Efficiency that we need higher energy taxes, but I disagree with their dismissal of
voluntary restraint.