Just Economics: A Better Deal for People and Planet

In many parts of the world, 100-degree days are already common. In the Indian subcontinent, temperatures can become so high that concrete in the cities buckles. In Morocco, hotter and longer droughts threaten crops and livestock, possibly wiping out the livelihood of millions. The lives of the world’s poorest are already harder, hotter, and shorter thanks to emissions that disproportionately come from the world’s richest. But just as the rich world’s emissions are finally falling, poorer countries’ are set to increase drastically. We seem to be caught in an impossible bind—but it’s not too late.

Renowned economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo (co-recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prize), and Michael Greenstone propose a radical new approach to combating climate change and the devastation that is already causing the most serious global crisis of our time. Substantial progress is possible if the wealthiest countries compensate the poorer countries for the harms that their emissions cause and, in exchange, poorer countries commit to climate action. Based on meticulous original research, years of fieldwork around the world, and deep engagement with world leaders and climate negotiators, Banerjee, Duflo, and Greenstone dive deeply into the specifics to show how this grand bargain would work to curtail emissions and address the suffering of the world’s neediest.

This paradigm-shifting and inspiring book reassures us that we can successfully confront the challenge. We can protect the poor while protecting our future. It’s just economics.