22.01.2019; Kolloquium
Kolloquium - Sjak Smulders "Solar Radiation Management Termination: Knowing When to Start by Knowing When to Stop"
Abstract:
We consider the economics of Geo-engineering, Solar Radiation Management (SRM) in particular. Instead of reducing emissions, climate change can be made harmless through increasing Albedo and preventing sunlight to reach the earth surface. Although currently considered by climate scientists as a cheap alternative to emissions reduction, unforeseen costs of mitigation might become visible in future. If this happens we would need to stop suddenly employing SRM, which might be costly. We study how the anticipation of new information of SRM costs in future affects early use of SRM. Our model is fully solvable analytically. We perform comparative statics and dynamics. We also calibrate the model.
CV:
Sjak Smulders is a professor of Economics at Tilburg School of Economics and Management. Smulders' research examines the impact of environmental and energy policies on economic growth as well as the sources of economic growth in a variety of contexts. He has analysed under what conditions economic growth can be sustained without deteriorating environmental quality. Recent work has focused on the question whether the stimulation of technological change can reduce the cost of environmental policies in general and the cost of climate change and energy conservation policies in particular. Ongoing projects study the role of consumption and habits for growth and environment. Most of the work is based on small analytical models in the endogenous growth tradition. Other interests include public economics, economic history, and international trade.