The Economics of Climate Change Lecture Series

Learn from four economists who are leading national and global discussions about the economic damages of climate change and the policies that can help us prepare for its effects.

Charles D. Kolstad is Distinguished Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Senior Fellow, Emeritus, at the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University. He is the former president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Kolstad’s early research focused on energy markets and air pollution, which naturally evolved to include the economics of climate change. He is particularly interested in the role of uncertainty and information in environmental regulation. He is also author of one of the leading advanced textbooks in the field, Environmental Economics, published by Oxford University Press and, now in its third edition, co-authored with Reed’s Professor Noelwah Netusil.

With ongoing actions in Washington to weaken climate action, it is important to understand the significance of this weakening. What does the past tell us about the most effective way of reducing emissions or, more generally, of changing the direction of economic activity? Past emissions reductions have been driven by a mixture of technological change, voluntary actions, market forcing and regulatory push. How much should we worry about weakening the regulatory push? The talk uses historical experience to understand the causal forces behind reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in the U.S. and abroad.

Sponsored by the Walter Krause Economics Lecture Fund, the Reed College Economics Department, and the Reed College Environmental Studies Program. Free and open to the public.