Avoiding disastrous climate change is possible but not inevitable

Avoiding disastrous climate change is possible but not inevitable.

W hat the world does or does not do about climate change will have profound implications. If the world fails to act, we may cross a climate tipping point, with disastrous consequences all around. No country by itself can prevent this, but a substantial number of countries working together can avert disaster. Collectively, we know what we need to do. However, can we agree on what each of us shou...

Epigenetic reaction norms: possible but not inevitable

I found the analyses and recommendations in Lea et al. (2017) mostly interesting, competent and sound but wish that more guidance had been given for future research. Which empirical results would advance knowledge most at this point, and why those priorities rather than others? That question is not clearly answered. Neither did the authors ask, what empirical puzzles could be solved by the rese...

Change is inevitable--change is constant.

Inequality, communication and the avoidance of disastrous climate change

International efforts to provide global public goods often face the challenges of coordinating national contributions and distributing costs equitably in the face of uncertainty, inequality, and free-riding incentives. In an experimental setting, we distribute endowments unequally among a group of people who can reach a fixed target sum through successive money contributions, knowing that if th...

Growth Is Good for the Poor but Decline Is Disastrous

This paper re-examines the Dollar and Kraay (2002) result that per capita real income for the poorest quintile in a country grows equiproportionately with the rest of the economy. Results obtained here using the Dollar and Kraay data set indicate that the real per capita income of the poor rises less than proportionately when growth is positive and falls dramatically when growth is negative. Th...