The Climate Policy Dilemma
Author(s)
Pindyck, Robert S.
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Climate policy poses a dilemma for environmental economists. The economic argument for stringent greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement is far from clear. There is disagreement among both climate scientists and economists concerning the likelihood of alternative climate outcomes, the nature and extent of the uncertainty of those outcomes, and the framework that should be used to evaluate potential benefits from GHG abatement, including key policy parameters. I argue that the case for stringent abatement—if it can be made at all—cannot be based on the kinds of modeling exercises that have permeated the literature thus far, but instead must be based on the possibility of a catastrophic outcome. I discuss how an analysis that incorporates such an outcome might be conducted.
Date issued
2013-05Department
Sloan School of ManagementJournal
Review of Environmental Economics and Policy
Publisher
Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
Citation
Pindyck, R. S. “The Climate Policy Dilemma.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 7, no. 2 (July 1, 2013): 219–237.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
1750-6816
1750-6824