Economic Risks of Climate Change – An American Prospectus

Climate change threatens the economy of the United States in myriad ways, including increased flooding and storm damage, altered crop yields, lost labor productivity, higher crime, reshaped public-health patterns, and strained energy systems, among many other effects. Combining the latest climate models, state-of-the-art econometric research on human responses to climate, and cutting-edge private-sector risk-assessment tools, Economic Risks of Climate Change: An American Prospectus crafts a game-changing profile of the economic risks of climate change in the United States.

This prospectus is based on a critically acclaimed independent assessment of the economic risks posed by climate change commissioned by the Risky Business Project. With new contributions from Karen Fisher-Vanden, Michael Greenstone, Geoffrey Heal, Michael Oppenheimer, and Nicholas Stern and Bob Ward, as well as a foreword from Risky Business cochairs Michael Bloomberg, Henry Paulson, and Thomas Steyer, the book speaks to scientists, researchers, scholars, activists, and policy makers. It depicts the distribution of escalating climate-change risk across the country and assesses its effects on aspects of the economy as varied as hurricane damages and violent crime. Beautifully illustrated and accessibly written, this book is an essential tool for helping businesses and governments prepare for the future.

Trevor Houser is a partner at Rhodium Group, a firm that combines policy experience, quantitative economic tools, and on-the-ground research to analyze disruptive global trends. He leads the firm's energy and natural resources work.

Solomon Hsiang is the Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Robert Kopp is an associate professor of earth and planetary sciences at Rutgers University and associate director of the Rutgers Energy Institute.

Kate Larsen is a director at Rhodium Group and manages the firm's work on U.S. and global climate-change issues.