The Economics of Climate Change with Matthew E. Khan

Much talk around climate change focuses on mitigation, with far less attention paid to adaptation strategies. Matthew E. Khan, an Economics Professor at Johns Hopkins and Director of the 21st Centuries Cities Initiative, is a climate change adaptation optimist. His research focuses on urban and environmental economics. At the start of the year, he released two books, Unlocking The Potential of Post-Industrial Cities and Adapting to Climate Change. In this episode, Kurtis Lockhart sits down with Matthew to unpack some of the key themes in his books, along with other insights around urban governance and policies. We begin by hearing about the lack of imagination synonymous with climate change adaptation strategies and why policies that focus solely on carbon footprint emissions are misplaced. The mechanisms for each approach are essentially the same, but the buy-in and application are different. Matthew makes the case for adaptation, and we also get into the long-term thinking that this strategy requires. There are economic levers that can be used to deal with climate change which have a longer timeline. However, they are under-utilized, resulting in little to no sustained change. Matthew also talks about the value of competition and how it can make cities more efficient. Our wide-reaching conversation also touches on the place-based policies, the use of big data and how it can be leveraged to help people make decisions about where to live, why the poor have to be prioritized when it comes to climate change policies, and the importance of experimentation before policies are enacted. This was an insightful discussion, that touched on a range of timely topics, which continue to become more urgent as time goes on. Be sure to tune in to hear more!   Key Points From This Episode:  •  Matthew’s insights into what happened with the Texas freeze. •  The role that private actors have to play in dealing with climate change-related problems. •  How Matthew and Bill Gates’ book diff