The economics of climate change and tech innovation win U.S. pair a Nobel
Award comes as a U.N. panel urges policy makers to pursue technical advances to curb warming
By Bruce Bower
Two U.S. economists, William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, have received the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their efforts to untangle the economics of climate change and technological innovations.
Nordhaus and Romer “significantly broadened the scope of economic analysis by constructing models that explain how the market economy interacts with nature and knowledge,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement announcing the awards on October 8.
Nordhaus, of Yale University, developed two computer simulations that weigh the costs and benefits of taking various steps to slow global warming. He has argued for taxes on the carbon content of fuels as an effective way to get businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency has used Nordhaus’ work, among others, to estimate the economic impacts of climate change.