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The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World Hardcover – October 22, 2013

4.4 out of 5 stars 318

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The 2018 Nobel laureate for economics analyzes the politics and economics of climate change, and points the way to real solutions
"A one-stop source on global warming, seen through the prism of a brilliant economist."—Fred Andrews, New York Times   Selected as one of the best books of 2013 by the Financial Times
  Climate change is profoundly altering our world in ways that pose major risks to human societies and natural systems. We have entered the Climate Casino and are rolling the global-warming dice, warns economist William Nordhaus. But there is still time to turn around and walk back out of the casino, and in this essential book the author explains how. Bringing together all the important issues surrounding the climate debate, Nordhaus describes the science, economics, and politics involved—and the steps necessary to reduce the perils of global warming. Using language accessible to any concerned citizen and taking care to present different points of view fairly, he discusses the problem from start to finish: from the beginning, where warming originates in our personal energy use, to the end, where societies employ regulations or taxes or subsidies to slow the emissions of gases responsible for climate change. Nordhaus offers a new analysis of why earlier policies, such as the Kyoto Protocol, failed to slow carbon dioxide emissions, how new approaches can succeed, and which policy tools will most effectively reduce emissions. In short, he clarifies a defining problem of our times and lays out the next critical steps for slowing the trajectory of global warming.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A one-stop source on global warming, seen through the prism of a brilliant economist."—Fred Andrews, New York Times

Selected as one of the best books of 2013 in the
Financial Times

"When we have a disjunction between scientific consensus and popular perception—that should light a fire under those of us in the news media. An excellent basis for discussion is the new book
The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus."—Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

"Nordhaus is arguably the world’s leading thinker on the economics of global warming. . . . His conclusion is clear: Acting to stop climate change costs money. Ignoring the problem costs more. . . . Ultimately, this message, delivered by a number-crunching economist rather than a morally outraged environmentalist, may prove far more effective in making the case for action."—Coral Davenport,
The New York Times Book Review

"Provides a comprehensive stocktaking of the possibilities and consequences of global climate change, all of which can be summed up in one sentence: 'Global warming is a trillion-dollar problem requiring a trillion-dollar solution.'"—Sheridan Jobbins,
World Economic Forum

"The power of intelligent economics permeates William Nordhaus’s The Climate Casino . . . the book convincingly makes the economic case for changing governmental policy, and our production and consumption habits, by offering economic incentives for low-carbon choices."—Gail Whiteman, Nature



"An evenhanded volume [that] will educate undergraduate students and general readers about climate change economics. Essential."—
Choice

Winner of the 2013 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE), in the Economics category

Won an Honorable Mention for the 2013 New England Book Festival given by the JM Northern Media Family of Festivals, in the General Non-Fiction Category

"Nordhaus is the world’s clearest, best informed and most serious thinker on climate change policy. There is more insight and good sense advice in this volume than in many libraries. This book should be as central to climate policy debates as climate change is to humanity’s future."―Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University

"
The Climate Casino is one of the most important books ever written about global warming . . . it deals with the problem (climate change and its consequences including economic) and with the solution (primarily a suitable price for carbon). It does so with wonderful clarity."—Thomas E. Lovejoy, George Mason University and The H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment

"
The Climate Casino is a tour de force and will make a real impact in the popular literature on climate change . . . it brings together all of the important strands of the debate . . . the book is without peer."—Charles Kolstad, Stanford University

"Bill Nordhaus is one of the world’s pioneers in applying economic reasoning to the harrowing problem of climate change. Before there was the UN climate treaty, the recent rounds of IPCC reports, and the Stern Review, there was Nordhaus’ path-breaking thinking, modeling, and research on the subject. His new book,
The Climate Casino, marks a long-awaited update and synthesis of this work for the public and students everywhere. His core conclusion – that we must act and act now – is carefully explained with Nordhaus’ trademark vigor, clarity, and thoughtfulness. Nordhaus repeatedly and rightly reminds the reader of the risks of catastrophic tipping points and the huge unknowns concerning the ability of societies and ecosystems to adapt to the changes ahead. As he aptly puts it, by investing in slowing and eventually halting the emission of greenhouse gases humanity will be paying a well-justified 'insurance premium' for human wellbeing."—Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

"This is a book written by a master of the field after more than twenty years of research on the global warming topic."—David Victor, Director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, University of California at San Diego

About the Author

William Nordhaus, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics and Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, has studied and written extensively about global warming for four decades. He lives in New Haven, CT.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; First Edition (October 22, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 030018977X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300189773
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.06 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 318

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
318 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2019
Before the reader comes to the end of page 1, economic growth and global warming are shown to be partners in peril to humanity alongside the entire natural world. Global warming caused by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas are the irreplaceable friends of human comforts and economic dependencies. Enter global warming consequential to the above as humanity finds economic and habitat benefits in abundance as never before.
The current daily routine activities of planet earth's 7.6 billion human inhabitants is an incremental force of unprecedented and currently unknowable consequences on existing cultures, ecologies, economies and borders. The unrelenting upward trajectory of human dominance and attendant consumptive and waste dispatches is a journey into portentous islands of undiscovered anthropics. The population of planet earth's humanity was two billion in 1900.
As the numbers of human competitors advances so also do the demands on energy sources defined almost exclusively as fossil fuel related.
Evidence from history studies report that major extinctions of life forms total five, that the sixth is in progress, mostly from the footprint of humanity.
The technology already exists that could substantially mitigate the influences of global warming but political and economics issues are formidable barriers in nations such as China and India who rely on coal-burning as a cheap energy source needed to anticipate massive demands from a combined human population of several billion.
Climate scientists seem united as they point to a human-caused climate change. "The planet is warming… consequences are that planet earth will reflect warming greater than during any period in the past half million years."
Umbriago
9 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2018
I was expecting a more dogmatic book pushing a specific agenda. That is not the case here. I thought Nordhaus spoke well about the limitations of modelling climate change and was even handed in presenting the costs and benefits of action. We should take steps to limit carbon emissions, not because there is a definite and known outcome, but rather because there is a higher likely hood of negative outcomes (the "casino").

Such even handedness is apparent in such statements:
-Clouds are really though for modelling because they both heat and cool the planet
-Costs of warming seem to be about 1-2% of income
-Temperatures are modelled to rise only about 1 degree over the next four decades
-Warming would benefit a lot of the developed world (higher ag yields/co2 fertilization)
-The health and economic impacts would most likely be small
-Places 10 meters above sea level seem relatively safe from rising waters
-Carbon Concentrations were 8x higher during the Jurassic period

These are no reasons to not take action. If governments are going to tax anything, it makes sense to tax pollution. That would provide a pricing mechanism to the market to choose less polluting facilities and would incentivize the creation of new technologies. Given that the costs are not great, a carbon tax would not need to be high. The problem is also more tractable than I previously thought since 95% of US emissions are limited to electricity generation and transportation and as much as 80% of emissions come from the use of oil and coal.
7 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2014
The first chapter says we have to educate the public. Everybody with a problem or wants to change the world starts off with this idea. The problems we face are probably extremely serious and I will depend on scientists, entrepreneurs, dictators, and eventually elected officials to work on solving them.
After the slow start the book becomes fascinating as the author looks at climate changes from economics. What damages have we already done, what are future damages likely to be, and what will the costs be to move away from future damages.
I like economics because it is simple. The news media gets way too excited but economics puts problems like hurricane damages Into GDP perspective.
As the title suggests we are placing bets on our future. Some warming in some areas will be good for crops and good for snakes wanting to move north but there are many tipping points described by the author that will be difficult to deal with. Anybody want to pay for a dike around Florida or NY City?
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2014
Bill Nordhaus does a great job of approaching climate change from a risk management, business oriented approach, incorporating new information from scientists about the risks of climate change. And he summarizes by considering practical political limitations to getting anything done. With the latest data on the impacts of projected CO2 and Temperature within likely ranges we will see, he shows impacts over the range, costs to avoid the worst tipping points, etc. His discussion of tipping points is especially helpful as the risk of triggering catastrophic impacts hinges around tipping points, understanding them, assessing our odds of tripping them, and evaluating the costs of options we have in the near term for optimizing our strategies to try to avoid passing any of these catastrophic thresholds. I'm hoping my generation (the baby boomers) won't be held responsible for catastrophic climate change, and while things are not looking too good right now, this PhD economist provides some valuable tools to the practical among us who want to deal with this as optimally as possible. I hope more of us read his book and give this huge challenge some serious consideration.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Emi
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente adquisición
Reviewed in Mexico on December 17, 2019
Me gusto la rapidez. No me gusto que llegara sin estar plastificado.
jose ignacio navarro
4.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro que ayuda a comprender el problema y las claves para su solución,
Reviewed in Spain on April 18, 2020
Me parece que este libro enfoca el problema del calentamiento global desde una perspectiva racional, lejos de populismos y soluciones mágicas cargadas de ideología que tanto proliferan. Maneja conceptos económicos relativamente sencillos de entender, aunque se hace algo aburrido en algunos pasajes. Me parece muy recomendable a la vez que inquietante, porque no parece que la humanidad se vaya a poner a ello a corto plazo.
Sofia
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent comprehensive explanations of the the complex climate change related issues.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2020
Written in plain English though considering all the complex issues of climate change
Dagmar
5.0 out of 5 stars top
Reviewed in Germany on December 20, 2018
Sehr gute Qualität v
Titania75
5.0 out of 5 stars Ouvrage didactique et équilibré
Reviewed in France on November 14, 2018
J'ai acheté ce livre parce que je voulais voir par moi-même quelle était la position du dernier prix nobel d'écononomie sur le réchauffement climatique. Je l'avais vu critiqué tant par les écologistes pour ses positions soi-disant proches des climatosceptiques, que par les climatosceptiques qui le trouvaient pour leur part trop catastrophistes. Le livre est déjà un peu ancien, vu le sujet, mais il est didactique et équilibré. William Nordhaus ne remet pas en cause le fait que l'homme est à l'origine du changement climatique actuel et propose des solutions économiques pour éviter les pires scénarios. En revanche, il rappelle qu'il s'agit de gérer l'incertitude. Car qui dit futur, dit incertitude. Il n'est donc ni catastrophiste, ni exagérément optimiste. Et c'est sans doute pour cela qu'il est critiqué des deux côtés. Pourtant, prendre un peu de hauteur dans ce débat qui touche aux angoisses les plus profondes de l'humain est tout à fait salutaire.
6 people found this helpful
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