The Scope of the Climate Crisis - Part 1
In this first lecture, Professor Juliet Schor (@Boston College) reviews the way economists have approached the problem of climate change. Conventional economists have misunderstood the problem and misdirected their attention, producing policy recommendations that are not up to the challenge. Many economists have focused on technological innovation, believing it sufficient. Others have misdiagnosed it as a failure of government policy coordination, concluding it is an insurmountable political problem rather than an economic one. They overlook that climate destabilization has structurally inequitable causes and impacts. Economists have tended to analyze it as a market failure and their recommendations over-rely on market mechanisms of dubious effectiveness to correct it. Still, others have taken out inadequate cost-benefit analysis tool kits to construct overly optimistic estimates of the impact of climate disruption on the economy. Economists have been central to the failure to respond to the crisis, and their approach has undermined action.
