RESEARCH

Conference: Macro Economics and the Environment: Climate Change, Policy Design, and Sustainability

There were several objectives of the one day conference held on May 5, 2011. There is broad recognition that the policies needed to address climate change and other global environmental problems are likely to have economy wide impacts. With a few notable exceptions, economic analyses of the large scale environmental issues have not exploited the insights available using dynamic general equilibrium models that recognize the potential importance of shocks for policy design and evaluation.

This conference was intended to initiate the process of framing an integrated research agenda associated with these problems that reflects insights from current macro theory and environmental economics. It was deliberately limited to a few key papers to allow time for extensive discussion and to launch what we expect to be a continuing dialogue.

Speakers

Philippe Aghion, Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Carolyn Fischer, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
Per Krusell, Savings Banks Foundations and Swedbank Chair in Macroeconomics, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University
Anthony A. Smith Jr., Professor of Economics, Yale University
M. Scott Taylor, Canada Research Chair in International, Energy and Environmental Economics, University of Calgary

Learn More:

Conference May 2011, “Macro Economics and the Environment: Climate Change, Policy Design and Sustainability.”

NY Times, September 2011, “Obama Administration Abandons Stricter Air-Quality Rules.”

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, February 2011, “Trends in Ozone Adjusted for Weather Conditions.” [source document for front page graphic]

AEA, Robert E. Hall, April 2011, Presidential Address, “The Long Slump.” [source document for front page graphic]