Valuing Planetary Scale Assets: What is the climate worth?

Solomon Hsiang, University of California, Berkeley

For centuries, thinkers have considered whether and how climatic conditions—such as temperature, rainfall, and violent storms—influence the nature of societies and the performance of economies. An interdisciplinary revolution in econometric research is illuminating important linkages in the coupled climate-human system. I will discuss key methodological innovations and results describing effects of climate on health, economics, conflict, and migration. Overall, findings from this literature point to climate as an important influence on the historical evolution of the global economy, they should inform how we respond to modern climatic conditions, and they can guide how we predict the consequences of future climate changes.