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Areas of Focus / Research Theme

Climate Change

A photo taken at night of raging wildfires fueled by climate change’s higher temperatures and drier conditions. Climate change is arguably the world’s most vital challenge. Communities are already experiencing its impacts in more intense storms, extreme temperatures, agricultural shifts, and more. Efforts to address climate change, however, continue to be stalled by a classic set of economic problems—the benefits that come from avoiding it are difficult to grasp, while the near-term costs of preventative policies are perceived as too high.

A deeper, evidence-based understanding of the present and future effects of climate change—on the environment, on regional business and the global economy, and on human health—is essential to accelerating progress toward policies designed to slow it. EPIC scholars are blazing the path to empirically grounded estimates of the local and global effects of climate change on mortality rates, agricultural yields, labor productivity, storm damage, and more at a highly localized level for communities around the world. Taken together, this work will inform the world’s first global social cost of carbon — the cost to society from each ton of carbon dioxide emitted – that can be used by governments worldwide to set climate policy. These efforts are leading the way to new policy approaches that will accelerate economic development, reduce harmful emissions, and improve lives around the world.

Topics

Associated Scholars

EPIC Scholar

Fiona Burlig

Assistant Professor, Harris School of Public Policy

Tamma Carleton

Assistant Professor of Economics, Bren School of Environmental Science &Management, University of California, Santa Barbara
Visiting & Non-Resident Scholars

Steve Cicala

Associate Professor of Economics, Tufts University; Non-Resident Scholar, EPIC
Scholar

Michael Greenstone

Founding Director, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth; Director, EPIC
EPIC Scholar

Amir Jina

Assistant Professor, Harris School of Public Policy
EPIC Scholar

Hajin Kim

Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
EPIC Scholar

John List

Homer J. Livingston Professor of Economics, Department of Economics; Chair, Department of Economics

Joshua C. Macey

Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School

Ishan Nath

Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University International Economics Section
EPIC Scholar

Ashwin Rode

Director, Scientific Research

Associated Research

Working Paper·Nov 8, 2024

Industrial Policies and Innovation: Evidence from the Global Automobile Industry

Topics: Climate Change, Climate Law & Policy
Working Paper·Jul 29, 2024

Groundwater and Crop Choice in the Short and Long Run

Topics: Climate Change, Climate Economics, Climate Science
Journal Article·May 5, 2024

The Economics of the Global Energy Challenge

Topics: Climate Change, Climate Law & Policy, Electric Power, Energy Efficiency, Energy Markets, Renewable Energy