The British Global Warming Study Mike Rappaport

I received this e mail from the American Enterprise Institute about the recently released report from the British government suggesting the desirability of immediate action on global warming:

The just-released Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, which was commissioned by the British government, is based on worst-case climate scenarios. It also invokes optimistic economic studies to understate the cost of massive greenhouse gas emission reduction and thus make the case for massive governmental interventions. Stern s favored policy prescriptions include the implementation of stringent worldwide carbon emission caps, and the establishment of an international carbon emissions trading system that will slow (or reverse) growth in the developed world, while shifting wealth to developing countries.

Stern s risk estimates are based not on extrapolation of existing trends, but on computer models that are only as good as the assumptions fed in. In fact, Stern uses the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate projections which have been discredited by reputable economists for years. In addition, Stern s cost estimates are at the lowest end of credible economic literature and fly in the face of experience, which shows country after country failing to achieve even modest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, despite incurring large costs for reduction measures and sacrificing economic growth.

AEI’s conclusions are what I would have suspected.  Of course, I am no expert on the area, but it is useful to know that there are reputable people who strongly disagree with the report.

Update: Also take a look at Jim Lindgren’s post, excerpting Bjorn Lomborg’s critique.