Nobel ou Ignóbil?

Recentemente, o economista ambiental Martin Weitzman cometeu suicídio. Uma possível explicação foi o fato dele não receber o Nobel por suas pesquisas; e ver Nordhaus vencer o prêmio, em 2018.

I was surprised and upset to hear that Marty Weitzman, a Harvard environmental-economist of 77 years, killed himself recently. Weitzman brought, in my opinion, the right perspective to the costs and benefits of acting on climate change, and it was his work that motivated me to start the Life plus 2 meters project. I initially assumed he killed himself in despair over climate chaos, it seems that he was upset to not win the Nobel. (A third possibility is that the award of the Nobel to Nordhaus, who deserves zero respect for his highly flawed model and its recommendation to leave action to future generations,* convinced Weitzman that his work would not get the attention it deserves, thus sealing the miserable fate of our civilization.)

Basicamente, Nordhaus sugere que os efeitos das mudanças climáticas devem ser descontadas por uma taxa de mercado. Em termos práticos, Nordhaus defende que o problema do clima seja um problema da geração futura.

When comparing these two environmental economists, I would have preferred that Weitzman get the Nobel and Nordhaus get the Ignobel prize, which is “devoted to people who’s research makes people laugh and then think.” Nordhaus’s work is worth thinking about (and laughing at once that’s done), but it’s instead taken seriously, which explains (partially) why the world has taken no substantial steps to slow CC.