IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v232y2025ics092180092500031x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do economists think about climate change and inequality? Semantic analysis and topic modeling of top five economics journals

Author

Listed:
  • El Tinay, Hassan
  • Schor, Juliet B.

Abstract

While there has been a call for economics to engage with the challenges of climate change, many have voiced concerns that the discipline has failed to seriously deal with the relationship between climate change and inequality. In this paper, we use computational methods – including bibliometric analysis, semantic analysis, and topic modeling – to identify a) the extent to which the core of the discipline of economics has dealt with the question of climate change and b) how engagement with climate change has been framed, especially with respect to varying forms of inequality – intergenerational, domestic, and global. As a proxy for the core of mainstream economic thought, we work with publications from the top five economic journals – American Economic Review (AER), Econometrica (ECMA), The Journal of Political Economy (JPE), The Quarterly Journal of Economics (QJE), and The Review of Economic Studies (ReStud) – from 1975 to 2023. We find that over this period, these journals have cumulatively only published 25 unique research articles on the topic of climate change, and we also find that those publications reflected a lack of engagement with the role and consequences of domestic and global inequality in dynamics of climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • El Tinay, Hassan & Schor, Juliet B., 2025. "Do economists think about climate change and inequality? Semantic analysis and topic modeling of top five economics journals," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:232:y:2025:i:c:s092180092500031x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108548
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092500031X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108548?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman & Sidharth Moktan, 2020. "Publishing and promotion in economics - The tyranny of the Top Five," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Sebastian Galliani & Ugo Panizza (ed.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 23-32, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    2. Joshua A. Basseches & Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo & Maxwell T. Boykoff & Trevor Culhane & Galen Hall & Noel Healy & David J. Hess & David Hsu & Rachel M. Krause & Harland Prechel & J. Timmons Roberts & J, 2022. "Climate policy conflict in the U.S. states: a critical review and way forward," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1-24, February.
    3. Philippe Aghion & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & David Hémous & Ralf Martin & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 1-51.
    4. Daniela Gabor, 2021. "The Wall Street Consensus," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(3), pages 429-459, May.
    5. Peter Andre & Armin Falk, 2021. "What’s Worth Knowing? Economists’ Opinions about Economics," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 102, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    6. Tommaso Colussi, 2018. "Social Ties in Academia: A Friend Is a Treasure," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(1), pages 45-50, March.
    7. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone, 2007. "The Economic Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Agricultural Output and Random Fluctuations in Weather," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 354-385, March.
    8. Hoel Michael, 1994. "Efficient Climate Policy in the Presence of Free Riders," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 259-274, November.
    9. Martin L. Weitzman, 2009. "On Modeling and Interpreting the Economics of Catastrophic Climate Change," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(1), pages 1-19, February.
    10. William Nordhaus, 2019. "Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge for Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 1991-2014, June.
    11. Sorrell, Steve, 2009. "Jevons' Paradox revisited: The evidence for backfire from improved energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1456-1469, April.
    12. John Gibson & David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2014. "Which Journal Rankings Best Explain Academic Salaries? Evidence From The University Of California," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(4), pages 1322-1340, October.
    13. David Card & Stefano DellaVigna, 2013. "Nine Facts about Top Journals in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 144-161, March.
    14. Lucas Chancel, 2022. "Global carbon inequality over 1990–2019," Post-Print halshs-04157767, HAL.
    15. Pestel, Nico & Oswald, Andrew J., 2021. "Why Do Relatively Few Economists Work on Climate Change? A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 14885, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. James Boyce, 1994. "Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation," Published Studies ps1, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    17. Stephen Bernow & Sivan Kartha & Michael Lazarus & Tom Page, 2001. "Cleaner generation, free-riders, and environmental integrity: clean development mechanism and the power sector," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 229-249, June.
    18. Tancrède Voituriez & Lucas Chancel & Philipp Bothe, 2023. "Climate Inequality Report 2023," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-04711228, HAL.
    19. Andrew K. Jorgenson & Brett Clark & Ryan P. Thombs & Jeffrey Kentor & Jennifer E. Givens & Xiaorui Huang & Hassan El Tinay & Daniel Auerbach & Matthew C. Mahutga, 2023. "Guns versus Climate: How Militarization Amplifies the Effect of Economic Growth on Carbon Emissions," American Sociological Review, , vol. 88(3), pages 418-453, June.
    20. Mikhail Golosov & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2014. "Optimal Taxes on Fossil Fuel in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 41-88, January.
    21. Steckel, Jan Christoph & Jakob, Michael, 2018. "The role of financing cost and de-risking strategies for clean energy investment," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 19-28.
    22. Brogaard, Jonathan & Engelberg, Joseph & Parsons, Christopher A., 2014. "Networks and productivity: Causal evidence from editor rotations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 251-270.
    23. Nordhaus, William D., 1993. "Rolling the 'DICE': an optimal transition path for controlling greenhouse gases," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 27-50, March.
    24. Lucas Chancel, 2022. "Global carbon inequality over 1990–2019," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-04157767, HAL.
    25. Parikh, Jyoti & Parikh, Kirit, 1998. "Free ride through delay: risk and accountability for climate change," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 347-409, July.
    26. Charmetant, Hugo & Casari, Marco & Arvaniti, Maria, 2024. "What do economists teach about climate change? An analysis of introductory economics textbooks," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    27. Ann Garth & Timmons Roberts, 2022. "Economic framing dominates climate policy reporting: a fifty-state analysis," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 1-21, June.
    28. Daniela Gabor & Ndongo Samba Sylla, 2023. "Derisking Developmentalism: A Tale of Green Hydrogen," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(5), pages 1169-1196, September.
    29. S. Nazrul Islam & John Winkel, 2017. "Climate Change and Social Inequality," Working Papers 152, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    30. Sterner, Thomas & Ewald, Jens & Sterner, Erik, 2024. "Economists and the climate," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    31. James Boyce, 2007. "Is Inequality Bad for the Environment?," Working Papers wp135, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    32. Nordhaus, William D, 1977. "Economic Growth and Climate: The Carbon Dioxide Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(1), pages 341-346, February.
    33. Juliet B. Schor & Andrew K. Jorgenson, 2019. "Is it Too Late for Growth?," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 51(2), pages 320-329, June.
    34. Lucas Chancel, 2022. "Global carbon inequality over 1990–2019," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 931-938, November.
    35. Boyce, James K., 1994. "Inequality as a cause of environmental degradation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 169-178, December.
    36. Zhang, Dongyang & Mohsin, Muhammad & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Does green finance counteract the climate change mitigation: Asymmetric effect of renewable energy investment and R&D," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    37. William Nordhaus, 2019. "Can We Control Carbon Dioxide? (From 1975)," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 2015-2035, June.
    38. Boyce, James K. & Klemer, Andrew R. & Templet, Paul H. & Willis, Cleve E., 1999. "Power distribution, the environment, and public health: A state-level analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 127-140, April.
    39. Michaël Aklin & Matto Mildenberger, 2020. "Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma: Why Distributive Conflict, Not Collective Action, Characterizes the Politics of Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 4-27, Autumn.
    40. Sivan Kartha & Tom Athanasiou & Simon Caney & Elizabeth Cripps & Kate Dooley & Navroz K. Dubash & Teng Fei & Paul G. Harris & Ceecee Holz & Bård Lahn & Darrel Moellendorf & Benito Müller & J. Timmons , 2018. "Cascading biases against poorer countries," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(5), pages 348-349, May.
    41. Lowe, R.J. & Drummond, P., 2022. "Solar, wind and logistic substitution in global energy supply to 2050 – Barriers and implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Federica Cappelli, 2024. "Unequal contributions to CO2 emissions along the income distribution within and between countries," Working Papers 2024.06, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Cappelli, Federica, 2024. "Unequal contributions to CO2 emissions along the income distribution within and between countries," FEEM Working Papers 341641, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. repec:ssa:lemwps:2025/04 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Bethmann, Dirk & Bransch, Felix & Kvasnicka, Michael & Sadrieh, Abdolkarim, 2023. "Home Bias in Top Economics Journals," IZA Discussion Papers 15965, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. de Soysa, Indra, 2025. "Green with envy? The effects of inequality and equity within and across social groups on greenhouse gas emissions, 1990–2020," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. Apeti, Ablam Estel & Bambe, Bao We Wal & Edoh, Eyah Denise & Ly, Alpha, 2025. "Wealth inequality and carbon inequality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    7. Richard S.J. Tol, 2021. "Estimates of the social cost of carbon have not changed over time," Working Paper Series 0821, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    8. Lorenzo Ductor & Bauke Visser, 2023. "Concentration of power at the editorial boards of economics journals," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 189-238, April.
    9. Škare, Marinko & Gavurova, Beata & Porada-Rochon, Malgorzata, 2024. "Digitalization and carbon footprint: Building a path to a sustainable economic growth," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    10. Grubb, Michael & Lange, Rutger-Jan & Cerkez, Nicolas & Sognnaes, Ida & Wieners, Claudia & Salas, Pablo, 2024. "Dynamic determinants of optimal global climate policy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 490-508.
    11. Christoph Siemroth, 2024. "Economics Peer-Review: Problems, Recent Developments, and Reform Proposals," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 69(2), pages 241-258, October.
    12. Rubin, Amir & Rubin, Eran & Segal, Dan, 2023. "Editor home bias?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    13. Abebe Hailemariam & Ratbek Dzhumashev & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2020. "Carbon emissions, income inequality and economic development," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1139-1159, September.
    14. Ali Sina Önder & Sergey V. Popov & Sascha Schweitzer, 2021. "Leadership in Scholarship: Editors’ Appointments and the Profession’s Narrative," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2021-05, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    15. Moritz A. Drupp & Ulrike Kornek & Jasper N. Meya & Lutz Sager, 2021. "Inequality and the Environment: The Economics of a Two-Headed Hydra," CESifo Working Paper Series 9447, CESifo.
    16. Hassler, J. & Krusell, P. & Smith, A.A., 2016. "Environmental Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1893-2008, Elsevier.
    17. Richard S. J. Tol, 2021. "Estimates of the social cost of carbon have increased over time," Papers 2105.03656, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2022.
    18. James J. Heckman & Sidharth Moktan, 2020. "Publishing and promotion in economics - The tyranny of the Top Five," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Sebastian Galliani & Ugo Panizza (ed.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 23-32, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    19. Desmet, Klaus & Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban, 2015. "On the spatial economic impact of global warming," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 16-37.
    20. Jared Starr & Craig Nicolson & Michael Ash & Ezra M Markowitz & Daniel Moran, 2023. "Income-based U.S. household carbon footprints (1990–2019) offer new insights on emissions inequality and climate finance," PLOS Climate, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(8), pages 1-24, August.
    21. Hjort, Ingrid, 2016. "Potential Climate Risks in Financial Markets: A Literature Overview," Memorandum 01/2016, Oslo University, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:232:y:2025:i:c:s092180092500031x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.