Climate Change and the Commons

This discussion-based seminar course aims to help students understand the different political challenges related to climate change. We will begin with an overview of the causes and consequences of climate change, emphasizing how the average effects conceal net winners and losers under the current status quo. Subsequently, we will step back to build a conceptual framework to understand the complexities underlying the Tragedy of the Commons, as well as the basics of market and non-market solutions. Finally, we will return to climate change to discuss the challenges of addressing it, both globally and within individual countries, that stem from the Tragedy of the Commons.