The Economics of Climate Change

The Economics of Climate Change
Author: Gary D. Libecap
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2011-06-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226479900

While debates over the consequences of climate change are often pessimistic, historical data from the past two centuries indicate many viable opportunities for responding to potential changes. This volume takes a close look at the ways in which economies—particularly that of the United States—have adjusted to the challenges climate change poses, including institutional features that help insulate the economy from shocks, new crop varieties, irrigation, flood control, and ways of extending cultivation to new geographic areas. These innovations indicate that people and economies have considerable capacity to acclimate, especially when private gains complement public benefits. Options for adjusting to climate change abound, and with improved communication and the emergence of new information and technologies, the potential for adaptation will be even greater in the future.

Forecast

Forecast
Author: Mark Buchanan
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1408827379

Positive feedback--when A produces B, which in turn produces even more A--drives not only abrupt climate changes, but also disruptive events in economics and finance, from asset bubbles to debt crises, bank runs, even corporate corruption. But economists, with few exceptions, have ignored this reality for fifty years, holding on to the unreasonable belief in the wisdom of the market. It's past time to be asking how markets really work. Can we replace economic magical thinking with a better means of predicting what the financial future holds, in order to prepare for--or even avoid--the next extreme economic event? Here, physicist and acclaimed science writer Mark Buchanan answers these questions and more in a master lesson on a smarter economics, which accepts that markets act much like weather. Market instability is as natural--and dangerous--as a prairie twister. With Buchanan's help, perhaps we can better govern the markets and weather their storms.

Why Forests? Why Now?

Why Forests? Why Now?
Author: Frances Seymour
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2016-12-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1933286865

Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.

Weather Economics

Weather Economics
Author: James A. Taylor
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2016-04-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1483159558

Weather Economics presents the papers and discussions at a symposium held at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station on March 13, 1968. The book discusses the cost of British weather; the effect of the weather on farm organization and farm management; and the weather and machinery work-days. The text also describes the basic frost, irrigation and degree-day data for planning purpose; the variations in the marginal value of agricultural labor due to weather factors; and the areal patterns in the value of early potato production in Southwest Wales in 1967. The weather and risk in forestry, as well as the use of cost/benefit studies in the interpretation of probability forecasts for agriculture and industry are also encompassed.

Worst-Case Economics

Worst-Case Economics
Author: Frank Ackerman
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2017-10-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1783087080

Worst-case scenarios are all too real, and all too common. The financial crisis of 2008 was not the first or the last to destroy jobs, homeownership and the savings of millions of people. Hurricanes clobber communities from New York to Bangladesh. How bad will the next catastrophe be, and how soon will it happen? Climate and financial crises are serious events, requiring vigorous responses. Yet public policy is trapped in an obsolete framework, with a simplistic focus on average or likely outcomes rather than dangerous extremes. What would it take to create better analyses of extreme events in climate and finance, and an appropriate policy framework for worst-case risks? ‘Worst-Case Economics: Extreme Events in Climate and Finance’ offers accessible and surprising answers to these crucial questions.

The Effects of Weather Shocks on Economic Activity: What are the Channels of Impact?

The Effects of Weather Shocks on Economic Activity: What are the Channels of Impact?
Author: Mr.Sebastian Acevedo Mejia
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2018-06-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484363027

Global temperatures have increased at an unprecedented pace in the past 40 years. This paper finds that increases in temperature have uneven macroeconomic effects, with adverse consequences concentrated in countries with hot climates, such as most low-income countries. In these countries, a rise in temperature lowers per capita output, in both the short and medium term, through a wide array of channels: reduced agricultural output, suppressed productivity of workers exposed to heat, slower investment, and poorer health. In an unmitigated climate change scenario, and under very conservative assumptions, model simulations suggest the projected rise in temperature would imply a loss of around 9 percent of output for a representative low-income country by 2100.

Climate Economics

Climate Economics
Author: Frank Ackerman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2013-02-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135074046

Climate science paints a bleak picture: The continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions is increasingly likely to cause irreversible and catastrophic effects. Urgent action is needed to prepare for the initial rounds of climatic change, which are already unstoppable. While the opportunity to avert all climate damage has now passed, well-designed mitigation and adaptation policies, if adopted quickly, could still greatly reduce the likelihood of the most tragic and far-reaching impacts of climate change. Climate economics is the bridge between science and policy, translating scientific predictions about physical systems into projections about economic growth and human welfare that decision makers can most readily use but it has too often consisted of an overly technical, academic approach to the problem. Getting climate economics right is not about publishing the cleverest article of the year but rather about helping solve the dilemma of the century. The tasks ahead are daunting, and failure, unfortunately, is quite possible. Better approaches to climate economics will allow economists to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. This book analyzes potential paths for improvement.

Climate Economics

Climate Economics
Author: Richard S.J. Tol
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2023-03-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1802205446

This thoroughly revised third edition offers comprehensive coverage of the economics of climate change and climate policy, and is a suitable guide for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. Topics discussed include the costs and benefits of adaptation and mitigation, discounting, uncertainty, equity, policy instruments, the second best, and international agreements.

Economic Value of Weather and Climate Forecasts

Economic Value of Weather and Climate Forecasts
Author: Richard W. Katz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1997
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521435710

Weather and climate extremes can significantly impact the economics of a region. This book examines how weather and climate forecasts can be used to mitigate the impact of the weather on the economy. Interdisciplinary in scope, it explores the meteorological, economic, psychological, and statistical aspects to weather prediction. The contributors encompass forecasts over a wide range of temporal scales, from weather over the next few hours to the climate months or seasons ahead, and address the impact of these forecasts on human behaviour. Economic Value of Weather and Climate Forecasts seeks to determine the economic benefits of existing weather forecasting systems and the incremental benefits of improving these systems, and will be an interesting and essential reference for economists, statisticians, and meteorologists.

Long-Term Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis

Long-Term Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis
Author: Matthew E. Kahn
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 59
Release: 2019-10-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513514598

We study the long-term impact of climate change on economic activity across countries, using a stochastic growth model where labor productivity is affected by country-specific climate variables—defined as deviations of temperature and precipitation from their historical norms. Using a panel data set of 174 countries over the years 1960 to 2014, we find that per-capita real output growth is adversely affected by persistent changes in the temperature above or below its historical norm, but we do not obtain any statistically significant effects for changes in precipitation. Our counterfactual analysis suggests that a persistent increase in average global temperature by 0.04°C per year, in the absence of mitigation policies, reduces world real GDP per capita by more than 7 percent by 2100. On the other hand, abiding by the Paris Agreement, thereby limiting the temperature increase to 0.01°C per annum, reduces the loss substantially to about 1 percent. These effects vary significantly across countries depending on the pace of temperature increases and variability of climate conditions. We also provide supplementary evidence using data on a sample of 48 U.S. states between 1963 and 2016, and show that climate change has a long-lasting adverse impact on real output in various states and economic sectors, and on labor productivity and employment.