…Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the former chief economist of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, noted that while considerable progress has been made in understanding the science behind climate change, economists have struggled to understand and explain its societal costs. That’s because the effects of climate change vary across oceans, continents and societies depending upon people’s ability to adapt to such changes and mitigate against the most harmful effects.
For example, he said that research suggests the effect of a very hot day in India is roughly 20 times greater than the effect of a similarly hot day in the United States.
But, he noted, the only viable path to solving global climate change is for all countries — rich and poor — to develop and engage in emission reduction strategies. How such strategies are designed and implemented will depend on a country or region’s economic and social structures…