Global Warming, Irreversibility, and Uncertainty
A Political Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12754361 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johannes Urpelainen (Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 68-85 |
| Publication date | 2012-09-18 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Environmental Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1526-3800 • E-ISSN: 1536-0091 |
| Publisher | The MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1162/glep_a_00140 |
| OpenAlex | W1983016299 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 32 |
The consequences of global warming are uncertain and possibly irreversible. In this article, I investigate the value of early mitigation action given these uncertainties and irreversibilities. I complement standard economic techniques with a political analysis: in the model, an incumbent government may be replaced through elections or other means by another policymaker with very different preferences. I find that if a green policymaker (very concerned about global warming) is probably replaced by a brown policymaker (mildly concerned about global warming), the case for early mitigation action is even stronger than otherwise. Thus, if environmentally aware governments will gain power in major emitter countries, they have particularly strong incentives to negotiate a global climate treaty when they expect that their successor may be less interested in climate cooperation. Similarly, concerns about the preferences of future policymakers could motivate environmentally aware local policymakers to impose increasingly stringent climate policies
Action (physics · Climate change · Economics · Global warming · Government (linguistics · Incentive · Microeconomics · Natural resource economics · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Treaty · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Law
Political Institutions
Lessons for effective renewable electricity policy from Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom
America's bottom-up climate change mitigation policy
Environmental Preservation, Uncertainty, and Irreversibility
A Review of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
From the Bottom Up
A Positive Theory of Fiscal Deficits and Government Debt
Understanding carbon lock-in
The Politics of Climate Change
Transnational Climate Governance
Explaining the Schwarzenegger Phenomenon
Implementing Long-Term Climate Policy
Abrupt non-linear climate change, irreversibility and surprise
Rules Rather than Discretion
The Value of Trade Agreements in the presence of Political pressures
Global Warming, Irreversibility and Learning
Democracy and Environmental Degradation
Transnational Networks and Global Environmental Governance
Climate Change Politics
Global Environmental Risks
Do Democracies Exhibit Stronger International Environmental Commitment? A Cross-country Analysis
| Citations per year | 0.31 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |