“...the nature of foul weather lieth not in a shower or two of rain but in an inclination thereto of many days together...”
Thomas HobbesLEVIATHAN (1651)
Abstract
Considered here is the contribution of economic analysis to solving problems of adjustment to climate change (but not the economics of emission abatement policies). Descriptive and prescriptive forms of economic analysis are distinguished. In the case of prescriptive analysis, there is a further distinction between equity and efficiency cases for government intervention. Intergenerational and inter-regional equity effects of climate change are examples of the former concern. Both climate change and adjustment responses are likely to involve ‘market failures’ of various sorts and hence to warrant policy intervention to ensure cost-effectiveness of responses. Attention is also given to the related problems of risk and ‘imperfect information’ about weather and climatic impacts. Where possible, Australian examples are drawn from the literature on the economic impact of weather and climatic change.
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With the usual disclaimers, acknowledgments for comments on the draft are due to Roger Rose, Edward Wheeler and Mark Paterson.
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Naughten, B.R. Climate change, Australian impacts and economic analysis. Climatic Change 25, 255–270 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01098376
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01098376