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Review of Financial Studies Vol. 33 No. 3 2020

Pricing Uncertainty Induced by Climate Change

Michael Barnett1; William Brock2; Lars Peter Hansen3

1 Arizona State University · 2 University of Wisconsin and University of Missouri · 3 University of Chicago

open access

Abstract

Geophysicists examine and document the repercussions for the earth’s climate induced by alternative emission scenarios and model specifications. Using simplified approximations, they produce tractable characterizations of the associated uncertainty. Meanwhile, economists write highly stylized damage functions to speculate about how climate change alters macroeconomic and growth opportunities. How can we assess both climate and emissions impacts, as well as uncertainty in the broadest sense, in social decision-making? We provide a framework for answering this question by embracing recent decision theory and tools from asset pricing, and we apply this structure with its interacting components to a revealing quantitative illustration.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/hhz144
Volume
33
Issue
3
Pages
1024-1066
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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