CONTEMPLATING COOPERATION. Don Boudreaux and Bill McKibben exchange views on the nature of cooperation and of coordination failure at Cafe Hayek. I may have an exam question or homework problem courtesy of Mr McKibben's review of some recent works on induced climate change.

We Americans haven't needed our neighbors for anything important, and hence neighborliness—local solidarity—has disappeared. Our problem now is that there is no way forward, at least if we're serious about preventing the worst ecological nightmares, that doesn't involve working together politically to make changes deep enough and rapid enough to matter. A carbon tax would be a very good place to start.

Something about that strikes me as a bit forced. I suspect there's as much anomie in paying your taxes as there is in sitting in front of your television.