What would you say a human life is worth? According to the US government, for an American it’s about $7.2 million, compared with the global average of approximately $1.3 million. If you’re Swiss though, you’re worth a pretty penny at $9.4 million.
While these estimates might sound absurd, they are important to understand: these kinds of figures and the models that produce them are a core part of how mainstream economics understands and shapes policy, and they have had a significant role in how governments have responded (or failed to respond) to the climate crisis. In this episode, Adrienne and celebrated economist Ha-Joon Chang break down what mainstream economics gets wrong, and why it has proven so ill-suited to a challenge like climate and ecological crisis, not least by reducing complex decisions to abstract cost-benefit analyses.
Dr. Ha-Joon Chang is an economist and Professor at SOAS University of London. Ha-Joon has been an advisor to several international organisations and is the author of many books, most recently, Edible Economics.
Further Reading
Ha-Joon Chang, Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective, Anthem Press (2002)
Madison Condon, "Damage Functions (Or why I am mad at economists)", Law & Political Economy Project.
Cedric Durand, "Energy Dilemma", New Left Review: Sidecar.
Steve Keen, "The appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change", Globalizations.
