Green Jobs and Productivity

In Econbrowser, James Hamilton puts green jobs in perspective, citing his own quote in this article from the North County Times (California). The whole article's worth a read. Here's Hamilton's contribution.

Skeptics of the economic benefits of alternative energy sources say the proper way to consider them is by how much energy is created per worker. That is a direct measure of productivity, said James Hamilton, a professor of economics at UC San Diego. The more energy created per worker, the better for the rest of the economy.

Hamilton specializes in macroeconomics and econometrics, the field of quantifying economics. He also is noted for his research on oil prices.

"If you have two people making the same amount of energy that one person used to make, would you want to describe that as creating one new job?" Hamilton asked. "I would say no, you're significantly reducing productivity. Ultimately, creating jobs has to do with promoting productivity."

Right.