The Virus Is Teaching Everyone What Runaway Growth Really Means
To make sense of the spread of Covid-19, economics—particularly black swan events and compound growth—can provide guidance.
Columns
My monthly, globally syndicated column for Project Syndicate, translated into a dozen languages, and my earlier bi-weekly Risky Climate column for Bloomberg Green.
Compound Growth Could Kill Us – or Make Us Stronger
The power of compound growth has long been recognized as essential to economic development. But in both the COVID-19 pandemic and the slower-moving climate crisis, this same mathematical force is cutting the other way, revealing dangerous shortcomings in how we manage externalities.
How Economics Can Inform Coronavirus Decision-Making
When considering travel and other choices, economic principles can provide guidance.
The True Price of Carbon
A $40 carbon dioxide price? Try $100, $200, or possibly more.
An Economist’s Guide to Spending Bezos’s Billions on Climate Change
The money would go far in politics, but it will also allow for technological experimentation and will take a fundraising burden off recipients.
Carbon Taxes Alone Aren’t Good Climate Policy
To drive down tomorrow’s CO₂ emissions, governments need to subsidize fossil fuel alternatives, too.
Why Oil Giants Figured Out Carbon Costs First
Inaugural Risky Climate column
Toward a More Reflective Planet
It would be barking mad to take up smoking simply because an experimental cancer treatment showed some promise on a lab rat