How to Think about Climate Change: Insights from Economics for the Perplexed But Open-Minded Citizen

Caught in the crossfire between climate deniers and catastrophists, the intelligent layperson is understandably bewildered when faced with the complexity of climate change. How To Think About Climate Change shows that economics provides not just a suitable, but an indispensable perspective to understand the root causes of the climate-change problem: scarcity of resources, externalities and free riding. Riccardo Rebonato argues that there are no silver bullets or easy solutions. However, he shows that the new-generation economics models offer a radically different insight about our best course of action from what most early models recommended - in particular, they suggest that fast and large-scale climate action can now be justified as the most cost-effective strategy without requiring the 'infinite altruism' of earlier models. Given the conceptual tools provided in this book, readers can decide whether they agree with these conclusions - and, if they do, what the most effective courses of action are.

在氣候變遷否認者和災難論者之間的交火中，普通人面對氣候變遷的複雜性時，很容易感到困惑。《如何思考氣候變遷》一書指出，經濟學不僅提供了一個合適的，而且是不可或缺的視角，以理解氣候變遷問題的根本原因：資源稀缺、外部性和搭便車行為。作者Riccardo Rebonato認為，沒有什麼萬靈丹或簡單的解決方案。然而，他指出，新一代的經濟模型提供了一個從早期模型所推薦的最佳行動方針中，根本不同的見解 - 特別是，它們表明，快速且大規模的氣候行動現在可以被認為是最具成本效益的策略，而不需要早期模型中的「無限利他主義」。通過本書提供的概念工具，讀者可以決定他們是否同意這些結論 - 並且如果同意，最有效的行動方針是什麼。