Complexity and the economics of climate change: a survey and a look foreward
Balint, Tomas ; Lamperti, Francesco ; Mandel, Antoine ; Roventini, Andrea ; Sapio, Sandro
2017
138
August
252-265
climate change ; economics ; macroeconomics ; energy economics ; innovation
Environment
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.03.032
English
"Climate change is one of the most daunting challenges human kind has ever faced. In the paper, we provide a survey of the micro and macro economics of climate change from a complexity science perspective and we discuss the challenges ahead for this line of research. We identify four areas of the literature where complex system models have already produced valuable insights: (i) coalition formation and climate negotiations, (ii) macroeconomic impacts of climate-related events, (iii) energy markets and (iv) diffusion of climatefriendly technologies. On each of these issues, accounting for heterogeneity, interactions and disequilibrium dynamics provides a complementary and novel perspective to the one of standard equilibrium models. Furthermore, it highlights the potential economic benefits of mitigation and adaptation policies and the risk of under-estimating systemic climate change-related risks."
Digital
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