IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ccexxx/v11y2020i04ns2010007820400059.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dikes Versus Windmills: Climate Treaties And Adaptation

Author

Listed:
  • SCOTT BARRETT

    (Lenfest-Earth Institute Professor of Natural Resource Economics, School of International and Public Affairs & Earth Institute, Columbia University, USA)

Abstract

This paper begins with a tribute to William Nordhaus, focusing on the two questions that have motivated his life’s work. The first is by how much carbon dioxide emissions should be reduced over time. The second is how to reach and enforce an agreement among sovereign nations to limit carbon dioxide emissions. Nordhaus was awarded the Nobel Prize for his efforts to answer the first question. I argue here that the answer to this question has been solved to a satisfactory extent, not only by economists, but by diplomats, and that the greatest need now is to answer the second question. I also present a simple model that extends previous research into this second question, a model in which countries choose both whether to abate and whether to adapt. Like all previous research on this topic, including Nordhaus’s own, the model doesn’t provide a neat solution, only another perspective on one of the most vexing questions in all of human history: how to prevent a tragedy of the commons of global proportions and with profound and possibly catastrophic consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Barrett, 2020. "Dikes Versus Windmills: Climate Treaties And Adaptation," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(04), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ccexxx:v:11:y:2020:i:04:n:s2010007820400059
    DOI: 10.1142/S2010007820400059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S2010007820400059
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S2010007820400059?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hötte, Kerstin & Jee, Su Jung, 2022. "Knowledge for a warmer world: A patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    2. Miguel Borrero & Santiago J. Rubio, 2022. "An adaptation-mitigation game: does adaptation promote participation in international environmental agreements?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 439-479, September.
    3. Amy W. Ando & Titus O. Awokuse & Nathan W. Chan & Jimena González-Ramírez & Sumeet Gulati & Matthew G. Interis & Sarah Jacobson & Dale T. Manning & Samuel Stolper, 2024. "Environmental and Natural Resource Economics and Systemic Racism," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(1), pages 143-164.
    4. Ralph Winkler, 2023. "On the Relationship between Adaptation and Mitigation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10371, CESifo.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsi:ccexxx:v:11:y:2020:i:04:n:s2010007820400059. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/cce/cce.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.