Thursday, November 02, 2006

Stern Review: Smallest contribution ever?

After wading through the Stern review we are pleased to announce that after 700 pages of text and many hundreds of references, our modest offering:

Cole, M.A. and Elliott, R.J.R. (2003). Do Environmental Regulations Influence Trade Patterns? Testing Old and New Trade Theories.[PDF] The World Economy , 26, 8, pp.1163-86.

gets a very tiny mention, in a very tiny footnote.

At least we can claim a footnote in history. Given that Tony Blair has called this "the most important document to have passed his desk as Labour leader", it can certainly be classed as the best footnote we have had (and we have had a few).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done, guys, to get your footnote in history. Amply deserved.
I just read The Economist's write-up on the report. They cite one Richard Tol as describing Stern's work as "incompetent". Should we listen to this person, or is he just one of those 1% of climate researchers who make a living out of contrarian views and the media attention generated by them?

Anonymous said...

Thanks Marius. The fact they overlooked our other 20 papers was probably just an oversight :-)

No, Tol is a pretty good environmental economist actually, not noted for contrarian views.

The Stern review was never going to satisfy everyone and, inevitably, there are questionmarks over some of the techniques used in the review.

So I wouldn't bet my house on the accuracy of some of the figures, but I still broadly believe the central message which emanates from the review.

Anonymous said...

Is there any reviews on line of the Stern report, that can brief me of the issues it brought up, and means i dont have to read 700 pages??

Thanx