Seminar – Endogenous population and discounting the social cost of carbon

Most integrated assessment models assume exogenous population growth. I present an extension of a standard integrated assessment model, in which climate change affects mortality and economic growth affects fertility and mortality, and use this to estimate the social cost of carbon. Endogenizing population growth can increase or decrease the social cost of carbon, depending on the population elasticity of welfare and the critical utility. Estimated values of these parameters indicate a sharp increase in the social cost of carbon.

Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam, room 1.01.