2013 Theses Doctoral

Essays in the economics and political economy of climate change

Meng, Kyle Chuan

Empirical research on anthropogenic climate change is constrained by two fundamental facts: climate change is unprecedented and its impacts occur gradually. This implies that neither evidence from recent history nor the near future can directly inform policy. Under such circumstances, empirical research must find historical analogs capturing particular features of future climate change and policy, which, combined with theory, can provide credible out-of-sample predictions. The four papers in this dissertation use new data settings and methodologies to causally examine central questions related to climate change mitigation, adaptation, innovation, and impacts. Results from these papers can help inform future climate-related research and various issues regarding the political economy of climate policy.