Economics of Climate Change

ECO1340 - Economics of Climate Change
Fall 2025 Schedule
Professor Matthew Turner
Department of Economics
Brown University

Course description and requirements

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Under construction, summer 2025.

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The following schedule describes the material to be covered during the term. The dates on which particular material will be covered and when asignments are subject to change depending on our rate of progress. Please check this schedule at least weekly for updates and changes.

Topic	Reading	Problems	Solutions
#1:Introduction, Carbon Accounting Notes #1 September 6, 11	Required: Hansen to p111 Nordhaus, Ch 1 Optional: C.B.O. Evaluation of the Inflation Reduction Act H.R. 109. Green New Deal IPCC 2013, Physical Science Basis, Technical summary Stern review, Ch 3, 7,8. Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, EPA 2019 Allen et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2013 (methane leakage from fracking).	PS#1, due Sept. 19	solution
#2: Trends in Climate and CO2 Notes #2 September 13	Required: Hansen p112-71 Paleoclimatology: the Oxygen Balance, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Optional: Ice cores and climate change, British Antarctic Survey, Sept 2010 Antarctic ice animation from lecture (Anders Levermann) Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative homepage (Regional cap and trade program). Schmalensee, Energy Journal (1993) (on calculating GWP)
#3: Uncertainty and the warming hiatus Notes #3 September 18	Required: Finish Hansen Optional: Measuring Temperature - The 170 Year Record, J. Weaver, J. Braun, and W. J. Szlemko, climatethoughts.org	PS#2, due Sept. 25	solution
#4: Climate damage I Notes #4 September 20, 25	Required: Adapting to Climatic Challenges: A Progress Report on Studies of the Historical Evolution of Wheat Production, Alan Olmstead and Paul Rhode, unpublished, 2011 The Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture: A Ricardian Analysis, Robert Mendelsohn, William D. Nordhaus, And Daigee Shaw, AER 1994	PS#3, due Oct. 2	solution
#5: Climate damage II Notes #5. September 27, Oct 2	Dell et al is difficult. Do your best, but don't expect to get it all. Just the first two pages of Roberts and Schlenker are required. For Greenstone et al., try p1-9, 11-37. Nonlinear temperature effects indicate severe damages to U.S. crop yields under climate change, W. Schlenker and M. J. Roberts, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science September 15, 2009. Mortality Consequences of Climate Change, M. Greenstone et al., QJE 2022. Climate Change and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century, M. Dell, B. F. Jones and B. A. Olken, NBER Working Paper 14132, 2008.	PS#4, Due Oct. 11	solution
#6: Climate damage III: Evidence from the Little Ice-age Notes #6. October 4, 11 (No school October 9)	We'll cover these four for sure. Try to read through them all. Global climate change, war and population decline in recent human history, Zhang et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2007. Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe, Oster, JEP, 2004. Adaptation to Climate Change in Preindustrial Iceland, Turner et al, AER, 2012. The economic effects of long-term climate change: evidence from the little ice age, Waldinger, JPE 2022. We'll cover these if we end up ahead of schedule: Civil conflicts are associated with the global climate, Hsiang, Meng and Cane, Nature, 2011. Temperature and Human Capital in the Short- and Long-Run, Zivin, Hsiang and Neidell, working paper, 2016. The Light and the Heat: Productivity Co-benefits of Energy-saving Technology, Adhvaryu, Kala and Nyshadham, working paper, 2014.
#7: Discounting, or how to compare present and future consumption Notes #7. October 16, 18	Required: Dorfman and Dorfman, 1993, Chapter 19. . An almost practical step toward sustainability, Robert Solow, An address to RFF, 1993. Nordhaus, p169-184.	PS#5, due Oct. 25	solution
Midterm office hours October 23		take home midterm 2023
#8: Mitigation Notes #8. October 25, 30	Required. This paper is pretty hard. Concentrate on understanding Figures 3a and 8a: Metcalf and Stock, 2020 .	PS#6, due Nov. 1	solution
#9: Solving for the optimal mitigation policy Notes #9. Nov. 1, 6	Required: Nordhaus Ch 2-5 What We Know and Don’t Know about Climate Change, and Implications for Policy, Robert S. Pindyck, Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, 2021. Economic impacts of tipping points in the climate system, Simon Dietz et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2021. Policies, projections, and the social cost of carbon:Results from the DICE-2023 model, Barrage and Nordhaus, NBER Working Paper 2023. This is a more technical version of Nordhaus' chapters 2-4. It's optional, but if you can do the math, it's easier to get through and you can read it INSTEAD of the book. Rolling the `DICE': An optimal transition path for controlling greenhouse gases, W. Nordhaus, Resource and Energy Economics, 1993 Optional. More facts about mitigation. Stern Ch 9-10	PS#7, due Nov. 8 A Simple IAM	solution
#10: The tragedy of the commons Notes #10. November 8, 13	Required: The Tragedy of the Commons, G. Hardin, Science (1968) The economic theory of a common- property resource: the fishery, H.S. Gordon, Journal of Political Economy, 1954. Optional: The lectures are based in part on Cheung, Ostrom is stories about common property in reality. The structure of a contract and the theory of a non-exclusive resource, S. N. Cheung, Journal of Law and Economics, 1970. Ch 4,5 Governing the commons, E. Ostrom, Cambridge University Press(1990)	PS#8, due Nov. 20 Don't leave this one until the last minute.	solution
#11: Regulation Notes #11. November 15, 20 (No class November 22)	Stavins is required. The Weitzman paper is hard and optional. Correlated Uncertainty and Policy Instrument Choice R. Stavins , JEEM, 1996. Prices vs. Quantities M. Weitzman, The Review of Economic Studies, 1974	PS#9, due Nov. 29	solution
#12: Regulation continued November 27, 29	The lecture is based on these three readings. Spence will likely be too hard, so it is optional. The Page chapter is required. The Metcalf is is an easy/useful survey of a lot of the material we've covered on regulation. Environmental taxes Talbot Page, Mimeo, 2004. Effluent Charges and Licenses Under Uncertainty M. Roberts and M. Spence, J. Public Economics, 1976 On the Economics of a Carbon Tax for the United States Gilbert Metcalf, Brookings Working Papers on Economic Activity, 2019	PS#10, due Dec. 6	solution
#13:Treaties and existing regulation Notes #12. December 4, 6	Frankel is required as is the Reference manual to p 40. The text of the Kyoto Protocol is optional. An Elaborated Proposal for a Global Climate Policy Architecture: Specific Formulas and Emission Targets for All Countries in All Decades Jeffrey Frankel, 2008. UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol Reference manual, 2008. Text of Kyoto Protocol, 1998. Related material: Text of Paris Accord IEA assessment of Paris Accord, 2015.
Final, Due Decemember 18		final exam	Old final exams: 2019 final exam 2018 final exam