William Nordhaus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Nordhaus the 1st
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Nordhaus in Stockholm, December 2018
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William Dawbney Nordhaus
May 31, 1941 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
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| Education | Yale University (BA, MA) Sciences Po Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| Awards | BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2017) Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2018) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Environmental economics |
| Institutions | Yale University |
| Thesis | A theory of endogenous technological change (1967) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Solow |
William Dawbney Nordhaus (born May 31, 1941) is a famous American economist. He taught economics as a special professor at Yale University. He is best known for his work on how the economy and climate change affect each other. In 2018, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He received the prize for showing how to include climate change in long-term economic planning.
Contents
His Life and Work
William Nordhaus was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1941. His father helped start a famous tramway called the Sandia Peak Tramway.
Education and Early Career
Nordhaus went to Yale University and earned his first degrees there. He also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned his PhD in 1967.
He started teaching at Yale in 1967. He worked in both the Economics department and the School of the Environment. He also held important leadership roles at Yale for several years. From 1977 to 1979, he was part of the Council of Economic Advisers for the U.S. government. This group gives advice to the President on economic matters.
Nordhaus was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2013. He also led the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from 2014 to 2015. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Barbara.
Contributions to Economics
Nordhaus has written or edited more than 20 books. One of his most famous books is an introductory textbook called Economics. He wrote this book with another famous economist, Paul Samuelson.
The Economics Textbook
Nordhaus started working on the Economics textbook in 1985. It was first published in 1948 and has been updated many times. This book has been translated into many languages and was a best-seller for decades. It is still very popular today. Many people consider Economics a very important textbook for understanding how the economy works.
Understanding Economic Growth
In 1972, Nordhaus and James Tobin wrote an article called "Is Growth Obsolete?". In this article, they introduced a new way to measure how well an economy is doing. It was one of the first attempts to include environmental factors in economic measurements.
Nordhaus also believes that the way we measure national income needs to be improved. He pointed out that our measurements often don't fully capture changes in the quality of goods and services. For example, he said it's hard to compare the cost of a horse to a car, or carbon paper to a photocopier. He argued that we need to consider how new technologies improve our lives.
Climate Change and Economics
One of Nordhaus's main areas of research is global warming and climate change. He has written several books on this topic. These include Managing the Global Commons: The Economics of Climate Change (1994) and Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming (2000). Other books are The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World and The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World (2021).
The DICE and RICE Models
Nordhaus created special computer models called the DICE and RICE models. These are "integrated assessment models." They help us understand how the economy, energy use, and climate change are connected.
In 1993, he wrote that humans are taking risks with the environment. He mentioned things like putting greenhouse gases into the air and cutting down forests. He believes that parts of the economy that rely on nature, like farming and outdoor activities, will be most affected by climate change.
Ideas for Climate Policy
Nordhaus has suggested ideas for how countries can work together to fight climate change. One idea is a "climate club." This would be a group of countries that agree to have stronger policies to reduce climate change. These countries would charge a fee on goods imported from countries outside the club that don't have similar policies. The European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is an example of something similar to a climate club.
In 2020, Nordhaus said that reaching the 2-degree Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement might be "impossible." He explained that even if we quickly reduce emissions, carbon dioxide will still build up in the atmosphere. He also noted that the 2-degree target was set without fully considering the costs of reaching it.
Awards and Recognition
Nordhaus has received many honors for his work. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
American Economic Association
In 2004, the American Economic Association (AEA) recognized Nordhaus as a Distinguished Fellow. They praised his ability to ask big questions about economic growth and well-being. They also noted his pioneering work on how politics affects the economy. In 2013, Nordhaus became the president of the AEA, serving from 2014 to 2015.
Nobel Memorial Prize
In 2018, Nordhaus was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He shared the prize with Paul Romer. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences specifically honored him for developing his "integrated assessment model." This model helps describe how the global economy and climate interact. It uses ideas from physics, chemistry, and economics. Nordhaus's model is now widely used to see how the economy and climate change together.
Many news reports about his Nobel Prize mentioned that he was one of the first economists to support a carbon tax. A carbon tax is a fee on carbon emissions, which is a way to make pollution more expensive.
Criticisms and Discussions
The Nobel Foundation praised Nordhaus's work for showing how the economy interacts with nature. They said his model helps examine the effects of climate policies like carbon taxes.
However, some people have criticized Nordhaus's DICE model. One main point of discussion is how he uses "discounting." This is a way of valuing future costs and benefits compared to present ones. Other critics, like Robert Pindyck, argue that these models cannot fully capture how complex the climate and economy are together. Some also believe that his models might not fully account for very serious, but less likely, outcomes of climate change.
Economist Steve Keen has also criticized the economics of climate change, including Nordhaus's work. He argues that economists might underestimate the damage from climate change. He believes that the economic damages could be much worse than predicted and might even threaten human civilization.
See also
In Spanish: William Nordhaus para niños
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
