The Economics and Econometrics of Climate Change Policy

Professor

 

James H. Stock (Harvard University)

Dates

 

30 August - 3 September 2021

Hours

 

15:30 to 18:30 CEST

Format

 

Online

Intended for

First-year PhD level econometrics and microeconomics. This course is self-contained but it can also be taken in conjunction with Empirical Methods for the Analysis of the Energy Transition

Prerequisites

First-year PhD level econometrics and microeconomics

Overview

This course provides an overview of climate change policy, with a focus on the energy transition and on the role of empirical analysis in informing policy prospectively. Carbon pricing is treated as an important part, but only part, of the suite of compatible and interacting policies for reducing emissions. The course includes a brief excursion into the econometric analysis of physical climate data. Any econometric methods beyond standard first year graduate material will be taught in the context of the empirical application.

Topics

Climate change science and cross-disciplinary empirical research
Framework economic concepts: the social cost of carbon, target-consistent prices, marginal abatement costs
Carbon pricing: theory and evidence on emissions and economic effects
Sectoral standards: design and experience
Technology policies
Supply side policies



James H. Stock is the Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and member of the faculty at Harvard Kennedy School. He received a M.S. in statistics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. His research includes energy and environmental economics with a focus on fuels and on U.S. climate change policy. He served as Chair of the Harvard Economics Department from 2007-2009 and as Co-Editor of Econometrica from 2009-2012. In 2013-2014 he was Member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, where his portfolio included macroeconomics and energy and environmental policy. He is co-author, with Mark Watson, of a leading undergraduate econometrics textbook. He currently is University Fellow at Resources for the Future, Faculty Associate at the Harvard University Consortium on the Environment, Faculty Fellow with the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, member of the CBO Panel of Economic Advisers, member of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee, and Co-Editor of Brookings Papers on Economic Activity.

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