Ethics and the Economist: What Climate Change Demands of Us

Julie Nelson

No 179094, Working Papers from Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute

Abstract: Climate change is changing not only our physical world, but also our intellectual, social, and moral worlds. We are realizing that our situation is profoundly unsafe, interdependent, and uncertain. What, then, does climate change demand of us, as human beings and as economists? A discipline of economics based on Enlightenment notions of mechanism and disembodied rationality is not suited to present problems. This essay suggests three major requirements: first, that we take action; second, that we work together; and third, that we focus on avoiding the worst, rather than obtaining the optimal. The essay concludes with suggestions of specific steps that economists can take as researchers, teachers, and in our other roles.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Ethics and the economist: What climate change demands of us (2013)
Working Paper: Ethics and the Economist: What Climate Change Demands of Us (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:tugdwp:179094

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.179094

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