Costs of Mitigating Climate Change in the United States

Joint Program Reprint • Journal Article
Costs of Mitigating Climate Change in the United States
Winchester, N., S. Paltsev, J. Morris and J. Reilly (2010)
Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2: 257-273

Reprint 2010-11 [Read Full Article]

Abstract/Summary:

We consider the large range of estimated costs of meeting U.S. climate policy targets. Some of this range is due to different studies using different cost measures, and in principle such differences could be eliminated by more careful comparisons and greater transparency in studies that estimate costs. Still another source of differences is how the proposed policy is represented. Here, again, this source of difference could be reduced by more careful comparison and by better definition of implementation details. Even if these sources of difference could be eliminated, there would remain substantial uncertainties because of the difficulties of projecting economic activity over the long horizon of proposed policies.We show the importance of several of these factors, using a consistent modeling framework.

© 2010 Annual Reviews

Citation:

Winchester, N., S. Paltsev, J. Morris and J. Reilly (2010): Costs of Mitigating Climate Change in the United States. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2: 257-273 (http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.resource.012809.104234)
  • Joint Program Reprint
  • Journal Article
Costs of Mitigating Climate Change in the United States

Winchester, N., S. Paltsev, J. Morris and J. Reilly

Annual Review of Resource Economics
2010-11
2: 257-273

Abstract/Summary: 

We consider the large range of estimated costs of meeting U.S. climate policy targets. Some of this range is due to different studies using different cost measures, and in principle such differences could be eliminated by more careful comparisons and greater transparency in studies that estimate costs. Still another source of differences is how the proposed policy is represented. Here, again, this source of difference could be reduced by more careful comparison and by better definition of implementation details. Even if these sources of difference could be eliminated, there would remain substantial uncertainties because of the difficulties of projecting economic activity over the long horizon of proposed policies.We show the importance of several of these factors, using a consistent modeling framework.

© 2010 Annual Reviews

Full article on publisher's website