The Economics of the Yasuni Initiative
Climate Change as if Thermodynamics Mattered
Published on 11. December 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
148 pages
978-1-84331-874-3 (ISBN)
Description
Climate change lends itself to both political economy and humor. Vogel argues that mainstream economics fails to recognize the thermodynamic nature of climate change, thereby missing the point of Northern appropriation of the atmospheric sink. The payment Ecuador seeks for not drilling in the Yasuni is equitable and efficient. Heeding the call of Deirdre (formerly Donald) McCloskey that economics needs humor, Vogel has written a scathing critique of economics-as-usual which also entertains.
Reviews / Votes
'...[R]efreshing and persuasive...pos[ing] important questions for mainstream economics and co-operation theory...a call to arms for the use of multiple, radical means to mitigate climate change.' -'International Journal of Environmental Studies'More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
4+ figures and photographs
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
196 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84331-874-3 (9781843318743)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Joseph Henry Vogel is Professor of Economics at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras and serves on the International Tribunal of Climate Justice.
Graciela Chichilnisky has worked extensively in the Kyoto Protocol process, creating and designing the carbon market that became international law in 2005.
Graciela Chichilnisky has worked extensively in the Kyoto Protocol process, creating and designing the carbon market that became international law in 2005.
Content
Prologue by Jose Manuel Hermida; Foreword by Graciela Chichilnisky; Introduction; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Chapter 1: Thermodynamics: The Language Chosen Defines the Debate; Chapter 2: The Tragedy of the Commons: A Class of Problems that has no Technical Solution; Chapter 3: The Willful Ignorance of Realpolitik: Market Failure or Cost-shifting Success?; Chapter 4: The General Theory of Second Best: A Rigorous Justification for an Intuitively Just Proposal; Chapter 5: Through the Bottleneck of a Cowboy Economy: Financing Shovel-ready Projects; Conclusions: Reason for Hope and Despair; Appendix: Annotated YouTube Filmography; Notes; Index