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.

Edward (Ted) Miguel is Distinguished Professor of Economics, the Oxfam Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 2000. He earned SB degrees in both economics and mathematics from MIT, received a PhD in economics from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow, and has been a visiting professor at Princeton University and Stanford University.

Dr. Miguel’s main research focus is African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; the impact of ethnic divisions on local collective action; interactions between health, education, environment, and productivity for the poor; and methods for transparency in social science research. Dr. Miguel has published over 120 articles and chapters in leading academic journals and collected volumes and is the author of three books: Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence and the Poverty of Nations (2008), Africa's Turn? (2009), and Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research (2019).

Is human-caused climate change likely to trigger enduring economic decline in modern societies? Historical data suggests that warming temperatures can slow economic growth and raise the risk of civil conflict. In this talk, Prof. Miguel discusses whether future warming from climate change may push some African countries into a "climate-conflict poverty trap," where rising conflict slows growth and vice versa, potentially triggering long-term economic collapse. Using empirical data and climate model projections, the analysis finds that climate change substantially increases the likelihood that many countries could be pushed into persistent states of high conflict and negative growth, with 42% of African country simulations exhibiting net negative growth over the remainder of the twenty-first century. He argues that aggressive emissions mitigation, conflict prevention, and adaptation strategies may each play an important role in reducing the risk of catastrophic human impacts from climate change in many African countries. 

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.