That would have particular meaning when it comes to climate regulations, because scientists say the impact of greenhouse gases that are emitted now will be felt far into the future, in the form of rising seas, more devastating storms, extreme drought, wildfires and displacement.
“This is essentially saying that the federal government doesn’t just give weight to the costs on the economy this year or next year, while ignoring the benefits to our children, our grandchildren, their grandchildren,” said Robert Stavins, a professor of energy and economic development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
The change would affect the metric that the federal government uses to calculate the harm caused by one ton of planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution. In the Obama administration, White House economists calculated that number at roughly $50 a ton. In the Trump administration, they lowered it to less than $5 a ton. Applying Mr. Revesz’s formula shoots up the cost to nearly $200 a ton.
Plug that number into, say, the E.P.A.’s proposal to tighten tailpipe emissions — a regulation designed to ramp up sales of electric vehicles while ending the use of gasoline-powered cars — and the economic benefit could increase to more than $1 trillion, much greater than the estimated cost to industry.
“It’s a very powerful change,” Mr. Revesz said.
He also believes that the government ought to consider the impact of a proposed regulation on different segments of the population. Current methods weigh the impact of a proposed regulation on the population as a whole. But poor and minority communities face greater exposure to pollution, so they would reap greater benefits from limits on that pollution.
Mr. Stavins and some other economists say the approach taken by Mr. Revesz is the most accurate way to analyze the impact of climate rules. “That’s the right way to think about it and the right way to do it,” Mr. Stavins said.
Critics say the changes would result in greater government interference in American life and harm businesses by increasing costs in an economy that has been edging toward recession.
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