Addressing the relationship between Economics and Climate Change

Abstract:

The majority of U.S. colleges and universities have a degree requirement related to the Principles of Economics. As a result, nearly all college students have some exposure to economics during their undergraduate program. However, the tangibility of economics to present and observable outcomes is not often addressed in standard textbooks. The exclusion limits the opportunity to foster needed and urgent changes in human behavior and further, limits the questioning of the relationship between economics and sustainability. In this paper we review the most widely used Principles textbook, Principles of Economics by N. Gregory Mankiw specific to the discussion of Climate Change. We provide a justification for the explicit inclusion of Climate Change and conclude with survey outcomes resulting from exposure to an integrated approach of economics and sustainability at the introductory economics level.