Lessons for the Age of Consequences: COVID-19 and the Macroeconomy

Comparative empirical evidence for 22 OECD countries shows that country differences in cumulative mortality impacts of SARS-CoV-2 are caused by weaknesses in public health competences, pre-existing variances in structural socio-economic and public health vulnerabilities, and the presence of fiscal constraints. Remarkably, the (fiscally non...

Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions: The Road to “Hothouse Earth” is Paved with Good Intentions

De-carbonization to restrict future global warming to 1.5 °C is technically feasible but may impose a “limit” or “planetary boundary” to economic growth, depending on whether or not human society can decouple growth from emissions. In this paper, we assess the viability of decoupling. First, we develop a prognosis of climate-constrained...

How much does regional integration contribute to growth? An analysis of the impact of domestic market integration on regional economic performance in China (1997–2011)

This study analyses domestic market integration’s (DMI’s) dynamic influence on regional economic growth in China. The authors construct a matrix of annual DMI indices for 29 provinces for 1997–2015. They calculate the reciprocal matrix and combine it with the β-convergence model and spatial econometrics to analyse the relationships between...

Carbon Emissions and Economic Growth: Production-based versus Consumption-based Evidence on Decoupling

We assess the Carbon-Kuznets-Curve hypothesis using internationally consistent and comparable production-based versus consumption-based CO2 emissions data for 40 countries(and 35 industries) during 1995-2007 from the World Input Output Database (WIOD). Theestimates for per capita CO2 emissions are truly comprehensive as these include all...

How the Invisible Hand is Supposed to Adjust the Natural Thermostat: A Guide for the Perplexed

Mainstream climate economics takes global warming seriously, but perplexingly concludes that the optimal economic policy is to almost do nothing about it. This conclusion can be traced to just a few “normative” assumptions, over which there exists fundamental disagreement amongst economists. This paper explores two axes of this disagreement. The...