Climate Change and Common Sense Essays in Honour of Tom Schelling

There is widespread agreement that climate change is a serious problem. If we fail to regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, or use alternative strategies for addressing the problem, the damages could be significant, and perhaps catastrophic. After several international meetings in which nation-states have tried unsuccessfully to address the climate change problem, there is a sense of frustration and urgency: frustration at the slow pace at which countries are moving toward an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; urgency because of the growing evidence that climate change is a serious problem that should be addressed globally and quickly. This book takes a close look at the fundamental political and economic processes driving climate change policy. It identifies institutional arrangements and policies that are needed to design more effective climate change policy. It also examines ethical and distributional arguments that are critical in understanding and framing the climate debate. The book is built around a conference honouring Tom Schelling that took place at the Sustainable Consumption Institute at The University of Manchester. Each chapter represents a significant contribution to the literature on the political economy of climate change.

Introduction and Overview
1. Thinking through the Climate Change Challenge, Robert W. Hahn and Alistair Ulph
Part I: Getting Nations to Work Together
2. Norms, Conventions, and Institutions to Cope with Climate Change, Thomas Schelling
3. Credible Commitments, Focal Points, and Tipping: The Strategy of Climate Treaty Design, Scott Barrett
4. Tipping Climate Negotiations, Geoffrey Heal and Howard Kunreuther
5. Bridging Reality and the Theory of International Environmental Agreements, Charles D. Kolstad
6. The Cost of Ambiguity and Robustness in International Pollution Control, Anastasios Xepapadeas
Part II: Ethical and Distributional Concerns
7. Time and the Generations, Partha Dasgupta
8. Discounting While Treating Generations Equally, Geir B. Asheim
9. Emerging Markets and Climate Change: Mexican Standoff or Low-carbon Race?, David J. Frame and Cameron J. Hepburn
Part III: Approaches to Designing More Efficient Policies
10. Moving US Climate Policy Forward: Are Carbon Taxes the Only Good Alternative?, Ian Parry and Roberton C. Williams III
11. Carbon Taxes and the Green Paradox, Michael Hoel
12. Derivative Markets for Pollution Permits and Incentives to Innovate, Linda R. Cohen and Amihai Glazer
13. Development and Climate Adaptation, Robert Mendelsohn
14. Schelling's Conjecture on Climate and Development: A Test, David Anthoff and Richard S.J. Tol