[OPE] New Working Papers on Climate Change

From: GDAEAnnounce@tufts.eduSubject: New Working Papers on Climate Change

The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University (GDAE) announces the publication of new working papers by Jonathan Harris and Brian Roach:
ECOLOGICAL MACROECONOMICS: CONSUMPTION, INVESTMENT, AND CLIMATE CHANGEby Jonathan Harris
The challenge of reducing global carbon emissions by 50-85 per cent by the year 2050, which is suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a target compatible with limiting the risk of a more-than-2ºC temperature increase, clearly conflicts with existing patterns of economic growth, which are heavily dependent on increased use of fossil fuel energy. While it is theoretically possible to conceive of economic growth being “delinked” from fossil fuel consumption, any such delinking would represent a drastic change from economic patterns of the last 150 years. A path of reduced carbon emissions would require major modifications in economic growth patterns. Achieving a low-carbon path requires population stabilization, limited consumption, and major investments in environmental protection and social priorities such as public health, nutrition, and education. Macroeconomic theory must be adapted to reflect these new realities.
POLICIES FOR FUNDING A RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGEby Brian Roach
This paper asserts that a significant increase in public funding for climate change research and development (R&D) is needed in the United States. While additional public R&D funding alone is unlikely to provide a sufficient policy response to climate change, it is a critical policy component in an effective long-run strategy. Quite modest taxes on carbon emissions or gasoline could fund a significant increase in public R&D funding for clean energy. As an alternative to tax instruments, the paper also considers a program of voluntary retirement contributions to a clean energy fund. These clean energy retirement accounts (CERAs) would allow individuals to directly contribute to a fund that would be used exclusively to support climate change-related R&D.
The working papers are available at:<http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/publications/working_papers/index.html>
For more on GDAE’s climate change work and publications go to:<http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/ClimateChange.html>
Also available from GDAE:
ECONOMICS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
This new version of the teaching module Economics of Global Climate Change includes coverage of the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report and the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, as well as new text boxes on discounting, climate tipping points and surprises, and the European Union carbon trading system. A downloadable PowerPoint file with figures and tables from the module is also available.
This and other teaching modules, designed for use as supplements in undergraduate-level courses, are available in Adobe Acrobat format. Topics include: trade, global climate change, corporate power, consumption, tax equity, and environmental justice. The module on Corporate Power in a Global Economy has also been updated with new data for 2008 use.
All GDAE teaching modules are available for FREE download at:
<http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/education_materials/modules.html>

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Received on Sat Sep 13 06:36:21 2008