Just Economics

Why does a fisherman in Dakar work even longer hours when temperatures rise?
What makes extreme heat in Seattle fifteen times more deadly than in Houston?
Why can’t indigenous communities in Brazil get the help they desperately need?

The lives of the world’s poorest are already harder, hotter and shorter, thanks to the actions of the world’s wealthiest. But just as the rich world’s emissions are finally falling, those from poorer countries are set to increase drastically. We seem to be caught in an impossible bind, but it’s not too late to find a way out.

Just Economics proposes a refreshing new approach, arguing that progress is possible if the wealthiest countries compensate the poorest for the harms that their emissions cause and, in exchange, poorer countries commit to climate action. Drawing on meticulous original research and years of fieldwork around the world, Banerjee, Duflo and Greenstone quantify the damage inflicted on the poor, show how their grand bargain adds up and why it will work.