Matthew Kotchen

Jan 11, 2024 | nber.org | Matthew Ashenfarb |Matthew Kotchen

We are grateful to Kevin Boyle, Catherine Kling, Alan Krupnik, Tony Leiserowitz, and Seth Rosenthal for helpful discussions about our survey question design. All remaining errors are our own. We received no funding for this research and have no conflicts of interest to declare. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Related

Nov 30, 2023 | science.org | Manuel Maestre-Reyna |Ning Yang |Robert Hinch |Matthew Kotchen

How much will it cost to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a global scale? The answer is critical for assessments of how to address climate change—affecting public support, political will, and policy choices. We find that the “bottom-up” estimation approach emphasized by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports considerably lower costs for emission reductions than leading “top-down” economic models.

Nov 30, 2023 | sciencemag.org | Manuel Maestre-Reyna |Ning Yang |Robert Hinch |Matthew Kotchen

Research needsWe have shown how different starting points on costless mitigation explain the vast majority of the divergence in the IPCC’s bottom-up estimates and top-down economic approaches. But the critical question is: Which starting point is more helpful for understanding how costly it will be for societies to reduce emissions, and which policies will be most effective in prompting these changes?