Climate change - World Economics - The journal of current economic analysis and policy

This paper summarises various estimates of the costs of mitigation of the adverse impact of climate change. It finds that the differences in the estimated impacts on gross domestic product, consumption, employment, and gasoline, electricity and natural gas prices are driven mainly by the following f ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

A Question of Fudge
Professor Nordhaus on climate change and mitigation policy
Mohammed H.I. Dore
Volume 10, Number 1, 2009, pages 91 - 106

This paper is an outline and critique of William Nordhaus’ book A Question of Balance (2008), in which he proposes his optimal policy for dealing with global climate change. Nordhaus finds that the proposals of the Stern Review and that of Al Gore are inefficient and costly. The critique of Nordhaus ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Economists and Climate Science: A Critique
David Henderson
Volume 10, Number 1, 2009, pages 59 - 90

This paper presents a critique of the characteristic treatment by economists of climate science, which appears as over-presumptive and uncritical. While the paper draws on a range of illustrative cases, the main focus is on six recent and important contributions. The present author argues that the a ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Climate Change Issues
An Australian contribution to the debate
David Henderson
Volume 9, Number 3, 2008, pages 217 - 228

Full text (PDF)

New Light or Fixed Presumptions?
The OECD, the IMF and the treatment of climate change issues
David Henderson
Volume 8, Number 4, 2007, pages 203 - 221

Two leading international agencies, the OECD and the IMF, are now becoming more closely involved with climate change issues, in conjunction with finance and economics ministries within their member countries. This broader official involvement opens up an opportunity: it could lead to a more informed ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Do Current Assessments Underestimate Future Damages From Climate Change?
Stéphane Hallegatte
Volume 8, Number 3, 2007, pages 131 - 146

While the economic debate on climate policy focuses on discounting, we do not know yet what to discount. The potential (non-discounted) socio-economic cost of climate change, indeed, is still unknown. Only a few studies have tried to estimate socio-economic costs of climate change. Most of them conc ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Right for the Right Reasons
A final rejoinder on the Stern Review
Simon Dietz, Dennis Anderson, Nicholas Stern, Chris Taylor & Dimitri Zenghelis
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 229 - 258

Four authors of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, and Dennis Anderson who provided advice and background papers for the Review, make a final rejoinder on the debate about the Review that has occupied recent issues of this journal. They respond to comments in the present issue by C ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Governments and Climate Change Issues
The case for rethinking
David Henderson
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 183 - 228

Governments, and in particular the governments of the OECD member countries, are mishandling climate change issues. Both the basis and the content of official policies are open to serious question. Too much reliance is placed on the established process of review and inquiry which is conducted throug ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Climate Science and the Stern Review
Robert M. Carter, Chris de Freitas, Indur M. Goklany, David Holland & Richard S. Lindzen
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 161 - 182

Fundamentals of the climate science dispute and common misunderstandings of some issues raised about Part 1 of the Dual Critique of the Stern Review [Vol. 7, No. 4] are discussed. One consideration is that a distinct anthropogenic greenhouse gas signal has not yet been identified within natural clim ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

A Stern Reply to the Reply to the Review of the Stern Review
Richard S. J. Tol & Gary W. Yohe
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 153 - 159

Tol and Yohe point out that, in their reply [Vol. 8, No. 1] to Tol and Yohe’s review [Vol. 7, No. 4], the Stern team demonstrates the fragility of the numerical findings of the cost–benefit analysis in the Stern Review. At the same time, the Stern team puts less weight on cost–b ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Response to Simmonds and Steffen
David Holland, Robert M. Carter, Chris de Freitas, Indur M. Goklany & Richard S. Lindzen
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 143 - 151

Full text (PDF)

Response to ‘The Stern Review: A Dual Critique—Part I: The Science’
Ian Simmonds & Will Steffen
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 133 - 141

In their comments on part one of the ‘Dual Critique’ [Vol. 7, No. 4] the authors draw attention to a number of instances where the treatment of sources and evidence is selective and biased, and perhaps where it reveals a modest understanding of the vast amount of conventional and well-established li ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

A Response to ‘The Stern Review: A Dual Critique’
Andrew Glikson
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 233 - 238

Any consideration of the potential economic consequences of climate change depends critically on the physical evidence for this process. In this response, Andrew Glikson questions the Dual Critique authors’ understanding of the science. Also, the paper’s repeated use of the term ‘alarmist’ and other ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Response to ‘The Stern Review: A Dual Critique’
Nigel Arnell, Rachel Warren & Robert Nicholls
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 229 - 231

This article is a response to the articles in the previous issue of World Economics by Carter et al. and Byatt et al., which criticized the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change’s assessment of the potential impacts of climate change. The authors demonstrate that the Stern Review does n ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Response to Carter et al.
John F. Mitchell, Julia Slingo, David S. Lee, Jason A. Lowe & Vicky Pope
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 221 - 228

This article has been written at the initiative of UK climate scientists, from both the academic sector and the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, in response to an article in the previous issue of World Economics by Carter et al., which was part of a ‘Dual Critique’ of the Stern Rev ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

The Stern Review and the Costs of Climate Change Mitigation
A response to the ‘Dual Critique’ and the misrepresentations of Tol and Yohe
Dennis Anderson
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 211 - 219

Responding to the ‘Dual Critique’, and the Tol and Yohe paper in the previous issue of World Economics, Professor Anderson counters a number of assertions made in those papers including the claims that the Stern Review is ‘alarmist’ or scaremongering, biased in its estimates and was not reviewed by ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Ethics of the Discount Rate in the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Wilfred Beckerman & Cameron Hepburn
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 187 - 210

Any comparison of the costs and benefits of climate change is dominated by the chosen discount rate. But, although the Stern Review emphasises the ethical nature of the parameters entering into its choice of a relatively low discount rate, its discussion of the ‘pure time preference’ parameter is un ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

REFLECTIONS ON THE STERN REVIEW (2)
A Growing International Opportunity to Move Strongly on Climate Change
Lorraine Hamid, Nicholas Stern & Chris Taylor
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 169 - 186

This paper highlights the basic economic principles behind the policy recommendations in the Stern Review and takes forward the analysis and proposals of the Review. It is written in the light of developments since the Review was published, reflecting on interaction with policy makers and analysts a ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

REFLECTIONS ON THE STERN REVIEW (1)
A Robust Case for Strong Action to Reduce the Risks of Climate Change
Simon Dietz, Chris Hope, Nicholas Stern & Dimitri Zenghelis
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 121 - 168

Those who deny the importance of strong and urgent action on climate change essentially offer one of, or a combination of, the following arguments. First, there are those who deny the scientific link between human activities and global warming; most people, and the vast majority of scientists, would ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Addressing Climate Change
Is there a role to be played by the IMF?
Peter S. Heller
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 107 - 120

Global climate change has moved high on the agenda of key policy makers in many industrial countries. As a “global public good,” a coordinated global response in terms of efforts at mitigation will be critically necessary. Equally, many countries will face serious economic harm in the absence of ada ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

How Can Norway Become A Climate-Friendly Society?
Jørgen Randers & Knut H. Alfsen
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 75 - 106

In March 2005, the Norwegian Government appointed a seven-person expert Commission on Low Emissions and asked it to describe how Norway could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by about two–thirds below its Kyoto obligation, by 2050. The Commission delivered its unanimous recommendation in October 200 ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

A Review of the Stern Review
Richard S. J. Tol & Gary W. Yohe
Volume 7, Number 4, 2006, pages 233 - 250

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was published on 30 October 2006. In this article Richard Tol and Gary Yohe, while agreeing with some of the Review’s conclusions, disagree with some other points raised in the Review and they address six issues in particular: First, the Stern Revi ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

The Stern Review: A Dual Critique
   Authors’ Introduction

   Part I: The Science
   Robert M. Carter, C. R. de Freitas, Indur M. Goklany,
   David Holland & Richard S. Lindzen

   Part II: Economic Aspects
   Ian Byatt, Ian Castles, Indur M. Goklany, David Henderson,
   Nigel Lawson, Ross McKitrick, Julian Morris, Alan Peacock,
   Colin Robinson & Robert Skidelsky

Volume 7, Number 4, 2006, pages 165 - 232

The Stern Review, described as the most comprehensive review ever carried out on the economics of climate change, was published on 30 October 2006. The twin papers from a combined team of scientists and economists present a critique in two parts of the Stern Review. Part I focuses on scientific issu ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Comment
The ‘climate change’ debate: S. Fred Singer responds to the exchange, in the previous issue, between Nicholas Stern and Ian Byatt et al.
Volume 7, Number 3, 2006, pages 185 - 188

Full text (PDF)

Reply to Byatt et al. by Nicholas Stern

Volume 7, Number 2, 2006, pages 153 - 157

Full text (PDF)

COMMENT: Climate Change
The Stern Review ‘OXONIA Papers’: A critique
Sir Ian Byatt, Ian Castles, David Henderson, Lord Lawson of Blaby, Ross McKitrick, Julian Morris, Sir Alan Peacock, Colin Robinson & Lord Skidelsky
Volume 7, Number 2, 2006, pages 145 - 151

Full text (PDF)

What is the Economics of Climate Change?
Sir Nicholas Stern
Volume 7, Number 2, 2006, pages 1 - 10

A major review of the economics of climate change under the leadership of Professor Sir Nicholas Stern was announced at the end of July 2005, reporting to the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer and to the Prime Minister. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is due to report ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

The Costs of Mitigating Climate Change
Dennis Anderson & Matt Leach
Volume 6, Number 3, 2005, pages 71 - 90

The paper reviews analyses of the costs of mitigating climate change and discusses the implications for policy. The estimated effects of reducing carbon emissions by 40%–60% over the next half century range from –1.0% to 4.5% of world product, averaging 2½%. This would be small in relation to the gr ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

The Economics of the Kyoto Protocol
Michael Grubb
Volume 4, Number 3, 2003, pages 143 - 189

This paper surveys economic aspects of the Kyoto Protocol, the Treaty adopted to control emissions of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The first part focuses upon the structural aspects of the agreement, with particular attention to the long-term conception of the Treaty an ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Valuing the Future
Recent advances in social discounting
David Pearce, Ben Groom, Cameron Hepburn & Phoebe Koundouri
Volume 4, Number 2, 2003, pages 121 - 141

One of the most controversial areas of economics is the practice of discounting: attaching a lower weight to future costs and benefits than present costs and benefits. Discounting appears to offend notions of sustainable development and the interests of future generations. Recent advances in the ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Towards a Better Climate Treaty
Scott Barrett
Volume 3, Number 2, 2002, pages 35 - 45

The Kyoto Protocol is an example of how not to construct a treaty. Negotiators began by focusing on the short term, agreeing that the industrialized countries should cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by about 5% relative to 1990 by 2008–2012. Then they agreed that these cuts should be achiev ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

How Much Damage Will Climate Change Do?
Recent estimates
Richard S.J. Tol, Samuel Fankhauser, Richard G. Richels & Joel B. Smith
Volume 1, Number 4, 2000, pages 179 - 206

Two reasons to be concerned about climate change are its unjust distributional impact and its negative aggregate effect on economic growth and welfare. Although our knowledge of the impact of climate change is incomplete and uncertain, economic valuation is difficult and controversial, and the effec ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Technical Progress and Global Warming
The case for a technology policy
Dennis Anderson
Volume 1, Number 3, 2000, pages 81 - 99

The case is argued for a larger and more explicit role for technology policies in responding to climate change. Policies and institutions set up during the Cold War arms race could be reformed and redirected towards the goal of making renewable energy a viable competitor to carbon-emitting fuels. Pu ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

Save the Planet: Sell Carbon
David Pearce
Volume 1, Number 3, 2000, pages 61 - 79

This article examines the political economy of agreements on global greenhouse emissions reduction. The author explains the complex emissions trading mechanisms set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and considers the likely size and structure of a future market for emissions credits. ... Read more

Full summary | Full text (PDF)

FREE TRIAL

FREE CONTENT ALERTS

To subscribe to our free 'Content Alerts' please fill in your details below:

First name:

Last name:

Email:

| | |