An Introduction to Climate Change Economics and Policy

Interest in climate change has generated a mountain of literature leaving many floundering in the sheer flood of information, commentary, claims and initiatives. This highly accessible book assumes no prior knowledge and cuts through the confusion to explain the key economic and policy issues related to climate change in simple language and with only a few statistics. Coverage slices across the breadth and depth of climate change, providing short summaries of the most relevant research and conclusions from various disciplines. The authors highlight where economists and policy makers generally misunderstand the science of climate change, underestimate the risks of runaway warming and exaggerate the costs of radical measures to stabilize the climate.

A key focus is the impact of climate change on world agriculture, the world's most important activity. The authors provide a critical examination of how current policies that promote poor water usage and soil erosion are risking a catastrophic collapse of agriculture in the poorest and most populous countries in a warming world. They look at the solutions such as how no-till, conservation farming, third generation biofuels from waste land, alternative energy, and bio-char production to raise sustainable yields, reduce emissions and sequester carbon in soil.

The second, crucial thrust is a critical examination of the growth economy paradigm of rich countries that is driving climate change. The authors look at economic measures to control climate change including switching taxes from labor to carbon and subsidies from fossil and nuclear energy to renewable alternatives as well as demand management and energy saving.

Overall the book provides a comprehensive, critical introduction to the issues and highlights the main policies that are needed to initiate the transformation to sustainability and avert the worst risks of climate catastrophe.

Felix FitzRoy is Professor of Economics at St. Andrews University, Scotland and Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA,) Bonn, Germany. Elissaios Papyrakis is Lecturer in Economics in the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, UK