Political Economy of Climate Change

3 units

The course will provide a broad but rigorous introduction to the challenges of climate chang from a political economy perspective. We will start with a brief introduction to climate science. Then we will move to the economics of climate change mitigation, focusing on identifying market or regulatory failures and how different policy instruments can address them. We will then look at international cooperation: its importance, what we can expect from it, the merits of different strategies, and lessons from past and current agreements. We will then switch to the domestic politics of climate change mitigation and the energy transition. This includes examining what determines policy ambition, the choice of policy instrument, how policymakers deal with opposition, how advocates can influence policy decisions, and how political institutions structure the policy process. To conclude, we will discuss the challenges of climate change adaptation, and the emerging geopolitics of climate change. By the end of the semester, you will have a comprehensive understanding of the economics and politics of climate change at the international, national and subnational level. Students will develop analytical tools to think about the effectiveness and political feasibility of different policy tools, and how the policy process works: who the key actors are, what their interests are, and how institutional rules structure their interaction. Students will be able to put these analytical skills to work by conducting independent research on a topic of their choice.