FEEM is glad to host Prof. Solomon Hsiang, University of California, Berkeley and National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Prof. Hsiang and colleagues have revolutionized the way the economics of climate change impacts is carried out, using novel statistical techniques and large data set to uncover previously neglected impacts on many economic and social dimensions. Prof. Hsiang had a major role in the Bloomberg report and is one of the founders of the Climate Impact Lab.

He will give a lecture on “The Marginal Product of Climate”, an empirical approach to value changes to a climate in terms of total market output given optimal factor allocations in general equilibrium. In his preferred specification, he estimates that, for example, the climate of Northern Minnesota returns over $2,000 per capita more annually than the climate of Southern Texas. Using a 3% discount rate, the net present value of “business as usual” warming (RCP8.5) until 2100 in the median scenario is a loss of $6.7 trillion.

Prof. Carlo Carraro, FEEM (ICCG Director), IPCC (Working Group III Vice Chair), will introduce the Lecture of Prof. Hsiang.