Law and Economics for a Warming World

by Lisa Heinzerling and Frank Ackerman
Harvard Law and Policy Review volume 1, no. 2, pp.331-362

Both law and economics offer frameworks for understanding public policy – and both require changes in order to respond effectively to the challenge of climate change. Contrary to implicit conservative assumptions, maintaining the status quo is not an option; “business as usual” will lead to rapidly worsening results as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. The causal links between actions and impacts extend across centuries; the most important effects of our actions occur long after our lifetimes. The consequences, and probabilities of damages, from climate change are incalculable in detail, although worsening in general. Each of these problems compels a rethinking of aspects of both law and economics, as Lisa Heinzerling and Frank Ackerman explain in this article.

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