Author: matt32mc

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30 Jun

Posted at 12:25h in Selected Articles by

"Limitations of integrated assessment models of climate change" (with Frank Ackerman, Richard B. Howarth, and Kristin Sheeran) Climatic Change, 95(3-4); August 2009

Abstract

The integrated assessment models (IAMs) that economists use to analyze the expected costs and benefits of climate policies frequently suggest that the “optimal” policy is to go slowly and to do relatively little in the near term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We trace this...

30 Jun

Posted at 11:51h in Books by

It might seem that contemporary economic theory offers a scientific account of choice among alternatives.  Yet this is only superficially the case; the behavior of the agents in most economic models is completely specified by preference functions, technological possibilities, and market interactions.  'Choice' is a misnomer for solution of one or another kind of optimization problem in such models....

30 Jun

Posted at 11:42h in Books by

The climate policy debate has been dominated by economic estimates of the costs of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Yet the models used to derive those estimates are based on assumptions that have largely gone untested.  The conventional approach embodies structural features that rule out alternative market outcomes.  In addition, the distribution of "climate rights" is crucial to determining the economic affects of various policies....