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Global warming, irreversibility and learning

Global warming, irreversibility and learning
Global warming, irreversibility and learning
A number of economists have argued that the literature on the irreversibility effect implies that current abatement of greenhouse gas emissions should be greater when there is the possibility of obtaining better information in the future about the potential damages from global warming than when there is no possibility of obtaining better information. In this paper we show that even the simplest model of global warming does not satisfy either of Epstein's (1980) sufficient conditions, so it is not possible to use Epstein's analysis to tell whether the irreversibility effect applies to models of global warming. We derive an alternative sufficient condition for the irreversibility effect to hold.
0013-0133
636-650
Ulph, Alistair
82a2f3b8-ac72-4d0e-85cc-2760eb99b117
Ulph, David
966bae3f-b1e6-4e13-9755-36fa740cb88c
Ulph, Alistair
82a2f3b8-ac72-4d0e-85cc-2760eb99b117
Ulph, David
966bae3f-b1e6-4e13-9755-36fa740cb88c

Ulph, Alistair and Ulph, David (1997) Global warming, irreversibility and learning. Economic Journal, 107 (442), 636-650. (doi:10.1111/1468-0297.00181).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A number of economists have argued that the literature on the irreversibility effect implies that current abatement of greenhouse gas emissions should be greater when there is the possibility of obtaining better information in the future about the potential damages from global warming than when there is no possibility of obtaining better information. In this paper we show that even the simplest model of global warming does not satisfy either of Epstein's (1980) sufficient conditions, so it is not possible to use Epstein's analysis to tell whether the irreversibility effect applies to models of global warming. We derive an alternative sufficient condition for the irreversibility effect to hold.

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More information

Published date: 1997
Organisations: Economics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 33050
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/33050
ISSN: 0013-0133
PURE UUID: 03ff16ba-79bd-439d-8946-f4fc98f89fb0

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Date deposited: 21 Dec 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:41

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Contributors

Author: Alistair Ulph
Author: David Ulph

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