Economists, Value Judgments, and Climate Change: A View From Feminist Economics

Julie Nelson

No 37280, Working Papers from Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute

Abstract: A number of recent discussions about ethical issues in climate change, as engaged in by economists, have focused on the value of the parameter representing the rate of time preference within models of optimal growth. This essay examines many economists’ antipathy to serious discussion of ethical matters, and suggests that the avoidance of questions of intergenerational equity is related to another set of value judgments concerning the quality and objectivity of economic practice. Using insights from feminist philosophy of science and research on high reliability organizations, this essay argues that a more ethically transparent, real-world-oriented, and flexible economic practice would lead to more strongly objective, reliable, and useful knowledge.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; Industrial Organization; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Political Economy; Public Economics; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Research Methods/Statistical Methods; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy; Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17
Date: 2007-10
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https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/37280/files/07-03EconValClimate.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Economists, value judgments, and climate change: A view from feminist economics (2008)
Working Paper: Economists, Value Judgments, and Climate Change: A View from Feminist Economics
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:tugdwp:37280

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.37280

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