Just Economics

The lives of the world’s poorest are already harder, hotter, and shorter, thanks to the actions and emissions of the world’s richest. But just as the rich world’s emissions are finally falling, emissions from poorer countries are set to increase drastically.

We seem to be caught in an impossible bind—but it’s not too late to find a way out. In Just Economics, renowned economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo (co-recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prize), and Michael Greenstone propose a radical new approach to combatting the climate crisis, arguing that climate deterioration is inseparable from our polycrisis of mass migration, political instability and the resurgence of populist nationalism. We cannot make progress, they show, without compensating those harmed by climate change and incentivizing developing countries to reduce their emissions, to our benefit too. Morality and self-interest are no longer mutually exclusive.

Based on meticulous original research and years of fieldwork around the world witnessing and quantifying the real impact of climate change on those most affected, this inspiring work shows it’s not impossible to protect the poor while protecting our future—it's just economics.