Book Reviews: The Economics of Climate Change: Adaptations Past and Present

• Published in: Journal of economic literature 2012, Vol.50 (1), p.222
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Agricultural production; Climate change; Consumption; Corn; Drought; Electricity; Environmental economics; Environmental policy; Heat; Nonfiction; Political economy; Political systems; Precipitation; Temperature; Variables
• ISSN: 0022-0515; 2328-8175
• DOI: 10.1257/jel.50.1.179.r21

Aaron Swoboda of Carleton College reviews "The Economics of Climate Change: Adaptations Past and Present" by Gary D. Libecap and Richard H. Steckel. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins: Eleven papers explore the economics of climate change, focusing on how economies, particularly that of the United States, have adjusted to past challenges posed by climate change. Papers discuss additive damages, fat-tailed climate dynamics, and uncertain discounting (Martin L. Weitzman); modeling the impact of warming in climate change economics (Robert S. Pindyck); droughts, floods, and financial distress in the United States (John Landon-Lane, Hugh Rockoff, and Richard H. Steckel); the effects of weather shocks on crop prices in unfettered markets--the United States prior to the farm programs, 1895-1932 (Jonathan F. Fox, Price V. Fishback, and Paul W. Rhode); information and the impact of climate and weather on mortality rates during the Great Depression (Fishback, Werner Troesken, Trevor Kollmann, Michael Haines, Rhode, and Melissa Thomasson); responding to climatic challenges--lessons from U.S. agricultural development (Alan L. Olmstead and Rhode); the impact of the 1936 Corn Belt drought on American farmers' adoption of hybrid corn (Richard Sutch); the evolution of heat tolerance of corn--implications for climate change (Michael J. Roberts and Wolfram Schlenker); climate variability and water infrastructure--historical experience in the western United States (Zeynep K. Hansen, Gary D. Libecap, and Scott E. Lowe); whether Frederick Brodie discovered the world's first environmental Kuznets curve--coal smoke and the rise and fall of the London fog (Karen Clay and Troesken); and the impacts of climate change on residential electricity consumption--evidence from billing data (Anin Aroonruengsawat and Maximilian Auffhammer). Libecap is Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Corporate Environmental Management and Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Steckel is the Social and Behavioral Sciences Distinguished Professor of Economics, Anthropology, and History and a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State University. Name and subject indexes. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]