Tyler Cowen, Columnist

Truss’s Energy Plan May Be the Least Bad Option

All things considered, it would be better to let markets set prices, but good solutions are hard to find.

It  needs all the help it can get.

Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe
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UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s energy subsidies could cost the country £200 billion or more, depending on the price of energy. Details are scarce, but the goal of the proposal is to limit the average cost of energy for households, give consumers and businesses subsidies to cushion their cost increases, and place price caps on energy, all for the next two years. Some EU nations are following broadly similar paths.

I am skeptical of such plans; all things considered, it would be better to allow energy prices to rise more. Nonetheless, I acknowledge that good solutions are hard to find.