Economics of Climate Change

ECO1340 - Economics of Climate Change
Fall 2021 Schedule
Professor Matthew Turner
Department of Economics
Brown University

Course description and requirements

Course CANVAS page

Office hours

Announcements:

Fifth CEPR/EAERE Webinar on Climate Policy: The Transition to Net Zero by 2050 | Online - 28 October 2021, no endorsement implied.

Two RA positions for next year, Wharton, Opportunity Insights

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.

We'll cover these four for sure. Try to read through them all.

Topic	Reading	Problems	Solutions
#1:Introduction, Carbon Accounting Notes #1 September 8, 13	Required: Hansen to p111 Nordhaus, Ch 1 Optional: 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 PNAS 2013 (methane leakage from fracking)	PS#1, due Sept. 22	solution
#2: Trends in Climate and CO2 Notes #2 September 15	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 20	Required: Finish Hansen Optional: Measuring Temperature - The 170 Year Record, J. Weaver, J. Braun, and W. J. Szlemko, climatethoughts.org	PS#2, due Sept. 27	solution
#4: Climate damage I Notes #4 September 22, 27	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Challenges: A Progress Report on Studies of the Historical Evolution of Wheat Production, Alan Olmstead and Paul Rhode, unpublished, 2011 The Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture: A Ricardian Analysis, Robert Mendelsohn, William D. Nordhaus, And Daigee Shaw, AER 1994	PS#3, due Oct. 4	solution
#5: Climate damage II Notes #5. Sept. 29, October 4	Both readings are required. 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. Nonlinear temperature effects indicate severe damages to U.S. crop yields under climate change, W. Schlenker and M. J. Roberts, PNAS September 15, 2009 Climate Change and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century, M. Dell, B. F. Jones and B. A. Olken, NBER Working Paper 14132	PS#4, due Oct. 13	solution
#6: Climate damage III: Evidence from the Little Ice-age Notes #6. October 6, 13	Global climate change, war and population decline in recent human history, Zhang et al. PNAS 2007 Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe, Oster, JEP 2004 Adaptation to Climate Change in Preindustrial Iceland, Turner et al, AERPP 2012 The economic effects of long-term climate change: evidence from the little ice age, Waldinger, Working Paper 2015 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 18, 20	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
October 25 Take home midterm		Take home midterm, due Nov 1, 5pm
#8: Mitigation Notes #8. November 1	Required. This paper is pretty hard. Concentrate on understanding Figures 3a and 8a: Metcalf and Stock, 2020 .	PS#6, due Nov. 3
#9: Solving for the optimal mitigation policy Notes #9. Nov. 3, 8	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). 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 IPCC 2007, Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change, Summary for policy makers	PS#7, due Nov. 8
#10: The tragedy of the commons Notes #10. November 15, 17 (no class Nov. 10)	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. 15 Don't leave this one until the last minute.
#11: Regulation Notes #11. November 22, 29	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. 22
#12: Regulation continued December 1, 6	The lecture is based on these two readings. Spence will likely be too hard, so it is optional. The Page chapter is required. Environmental taxes Talbot Page, Mimeo, 2004. Effluent Charges and Licenses Under Uncertainty M. Roberts and M. Spence, J. Public Economics, 1976	PS#10, due Dec. 8
#13:Treaties and existing regulation Notes #12. December 8	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, Dec 14, 2pm	Exam Group: 09	2019 final exam	Old final exams: 2012 final exam 2018 final exam