The green jobs myth

Max Schulz writes in the Manhattan Institute's City Journal about the Obama administration's commitment to green jobs. Regrettably lacking in economic reasoning, he does credit Frederic Bastiat with debunking in the 1800s the notion that putting people to work is itself social welfare improving. This notion--that in times of recession and high unemployment we should employ people to dig holes and fill them in again--has been used to promote the green jobs agenda. But spending on green jobs will only improve welfare to the extent the green workers make stuff or provide services that are welfare enhancing. Digging holes and filling them back in doesn't contribute to social welfare.