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Risk, inequality and time in the welfare economics of climate change: is the workhorse model underspecified?

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  • Cameron Hepburn
  • Hakon Sælen
  • Giles Atkinson
  • Simon Dietz

Abstract

In the workhorse model of welfare economics, the elasticity of marginal utility, often denoted as η, serves simultaneously to represent aversion to risk, aversion to spatial inequality, and preferences for intertemporal substitution. While Kreps-Porteus-Selden and Epstein-Zin preferences enable risk to be separated from intertemporal substitution, no model enables all tlhree concepts to be disentangled. This theoretical lacuna is important, particularly for the economics of climate change, which is a global, long-run, uncertain externality. Much debate, for instance in the wake of the Stern Review (Stern, 2007a) has focused on the appropriate value for η. This paper tests the suitability of the workhorse model for climate change economics, by surveying the attitudes of over 3000 people to risk, time, and income inequality. The results show that individual attitudes to the three are only weakly correlated. This suggests that because the three concepts are captured by a single parameter, the model is underspecified and a richer model should be considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Cameron Hepburn & Hakon Sælen & Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz, 2008. "Risk, inequality and time in the welfare economics of climate change: is the workhorse model underspecified?," Economics Series Working Papers 400, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:400
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard S J Tol, 2018. "The Economic Impacts of Climate Change," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 12(1), pages 4-25.
    2. Malafry, Laurence & Brinca, Pedro, 2022. "Climate policy in an unequal world: Assessing the cost of risk on vulnerable households," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    3. Venmans, Frank & Groom, Ben, 2021. "Social discounting, inequality aversion, and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    4. Anthoff, David, 2009. "Optimal Global Dynamic Carbon Taxation," Papers WP278, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate Change; Discounting; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Risk Aversion; Intertemporal Substitution; Inequality Aversion; Intergenerational Equity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects

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