California has by far the most aggressive climate-change policies in the nation, and the state is a global leader in plans to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

It’s also the world’s eighth-largest economy, with a growing population, soaring economic output, and a resolutely progressive legislature.

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Now Danny Cullenward, an energy economist at Stanford University, suggests that the combination of all those forces could collide to produce much higher gasoline prices.

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Cullenward and his colleague, Stanford law professor Michael Wara, released a proposal now embodied in a bill before the legislature.

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That’s because Cullenward and Wara acknowledge that the rising prices of emission permits will add significantly to the price of gasoline within the state.