Quiggin on Stern....

John Quiggin has launched a review of the Stern Report. He likes it. To encourage you to read Quiggin Eli has selected some of the raw liver parts

By 2006, the credibility of the anti-science groups was on the verge of collapse, at least as regards climate change. Factors contributing to this outcome included the resolution of remaining scientific controversies, particularly relating to satellite measurements of tropospheric temperatures, the success of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth and increased publicity regarding the extent to which prominent skeptics were beneficiaries of funding from fossil fuel industries.1

The footnote points out that the same guys were on varsity scholarship from the tobacco industry. Eli will modestly take some little credit for bringing that up, both here and elsewhere, although it is certainly not original with him. OTOH, the Rabett did really dig out some goodies. Anyhow, Quiggin goes on to say:

The Stern Review radically changed the terms of the debate by presenting the issues in economic rather than scientific terms. The effects of global warming, previously discussed in qualitative terms were shown to correspond to large losses in economic welfare. The result was to outflank the remaining skeptics. They could either continue denying the results of scientific analysis, or try to salvage the fallback position, undermined by the Stern Review, that although global warming is real, the costs of doing anything significant about it exceed the benefits, at least in the short term. It is this latter position which will be critically examined in the
present paper.

Quiggin does a good job of setting out the issues. You may not agree with the conclusions but you will learn something by reading the paper.

BTW, it occurred to Eli last night, that now that Stern is has resigned from the Treasury, he can pretty much say anything he damn pleases. We look forward to his contributions:)