Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming [Paperback]

William D. Nordhaus (Author), Joseph Boyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2003

Humanity is risking the health of the natural environment through a myriad of interventions, including the atmospheric emission of trace gases such as carbon dioxide, the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, the engineering of massive land-use changes, and the destruction of the habitats of many species. It is imperative that we learn to protect our common geophysical and biological resources. Although scientists have studied greenhouse warming for decades, it is only recently that society has begun to consider the economic, political, and institutional aspects of environmental intervention. To do so raises formidable challenges of data modeling, uncertainty, international coordination, and institutional design.Attempts to deal with complex scientific and economic issues have increasingly involved the use of models to help analysts and decision makers understand likely future outcomes as well as the implications of alternative policies. This book presents in detail a pair of models of the economics of climate change. The models, called RICE-99 (for the Regional Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy) and DICE-99 (for the Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy) build on the authors' earlier work, particularly their RICE and DICE models of the early 1990s. They can help policy makers design better economic and environmental policies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" Warming the World should be required reading for policy makers, politicians, environmentalists, and the concerned public." Thomas Gale Moore Journal of Political Economy

About the Author

William D. Nordhaus is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University.

Joseph Boyer is an Associate in Research at Yale University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262640546
• ISBN-13: 978-0262640541
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,938,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent cutting edge book on a vital issue., May 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming (Paperback)

The scientific community has developed an overwhelming concensus that global warming is occuring, and is caused at least in part by human activity. William Nordhaus has led the way in studying the potential economic cosequences of global warming, and this book should be considered essential reading for those who are more than a little interested in topic (and shouldn't we all be?). Nordhaus describes past work on the economic costs of global warming, uses a summing-up approach to arrive at estimates of damage costs for greenhouse gas emissions, then compares these results to abatement cost estimates for various policy options. This allows cost-benefit analysis to inform the reader and policymakers about the economic effectiveness of different responses to the problem of global warming.

While some people may question the doom-and-gloom scenarios of activists on this issue, the general criticism leveled by economists critiquing Nordhaus' past work is that he has been, if anything, too conservative in his approach and his assumptions. In the present work, Nordhaus has reduced the rate of discounting for more distant future economic values, increased the range of costs considered, and increased the complexity of his model, thereby strengthening the results of his analysis.

The ideal reader for this book will have some background in economics and statistical analysis, allowing him to fully appreciate the quality of Nordhaus' work, but readers less schooled in these disciplines will be able to glean much valuable information from Nordhaus' approachable descriptions of the problem, the analysis, and the conclusions. Again, William Nordhaus is the acknowledged leader in researching costs of global warming. "Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming" should find its way to college classrooms and private bookshelves alike.

4 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Replace assumption with knowledge., August 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming (Hardcover)

The author assumes as factual the uses of ozone eating chemicals and destruction wrought by emissions of trace gases. Hence the possibility opens up to discuss the tremendously complex ways in which the problems need to be addressed. It will come as a complete surprise to both the author and the unsuspecting reader that there are no problems which need such complex and costly remedies. There is no gain in sacrificing the public's wealth on avoiding risks which do not exist. All the money spent contributes to is the material well-being of those involved in addressing the man-made catastrophe predictions. This volume is long on words and short on intellectual honesty.