Climate Change, Political Economy and the Problem of Comparative Institutions Analysis

TY - CHAP

T1 - Climate Change, Political Economy and the Problem of Comparative Institutions Analysis

AU - Pennington, Mark

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This chapter use the principles of ‘robust political economy’ to consider institutional alternatives to address the problem of anthropogenic climate change. It argues that non-ideal comparisons between alternatives are necessary to judge the likely ‘real-world’ consequences of adopting different policy regimes to address the climate change dilemma, but that the global character of the problem and the timescales required to judge the relative effectiveness of any institutional response prevents the production of the necessary comparisons. In the case of climate change, therefore, there are no empirically robust comparative institutional claims that can be made.

AB - This chapter use the principles of ‘robust political economy’ to consider institutional alternatives to address the problem of anthropogenic climate change. It argues that non-ideal comparisons between alternatives are necessary to judge the likely ‘real-world’ consequences of adopting different policy regimes to address the climate change dilemma, but that the global character of the problem and the timescales required to judge the relative effectiveness of any institutional response prevents the production of the necessary comparisons. In the case of climate change, therefore, there are no empirically robust comparative institutional claims that can be made.

M3 - Chapter

BT - Climate Liberalism

A2 - Adler, Jonathan

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

ER -