Climate Economics: A Meta Analysis

Much has been written on the Economics of Climate Change since the Stern review.

Geoffrey Heal presents an overview of the work done so far and offers up a few suggestions for future work. Some interesting stuff.

Climate Economics: A Meta-Review and Some Suggestions

GEOFFREY M. HEAL
Columbia Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) April 2008

NBER Working Paper No. W13927


Abstract:
What have we learned from the outpouring of literature as a result of the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change? A lot. We have explored the model space and the parameter space much more thoroughly, though there are still unexplored regions. While there are aspects of the Stern Review's analysis with which we can disagree, it seems fair to say that it has catalyzed a fundamental rethinking of the economic case for action on climate change. We are now in a position to give some conditions that are sufficient to provide a case for strong action on climate change, but need more work before we have a fully satisfactory account of the relevant economics. In particular we need to understand better how climate change affects natural capital - the natural environment and the ecosystems comprising it - and how these affect human welfare.

JEL Classifications: D8, D9, Q01

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