William Nordhaus

William Nordhaus is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and the 2018 Nobel Laureate in Economics (shared with Paul Romer). He is the founding figure in the economics of climate change, having developed the Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy (DICE) — one of the first integrated assessment models linking economic growth models with climate models to estimate optimal paths for carbon taxation and emission reduction. His concept of the "social cost of carbon" — the present value of damages from emitting one additional ton of CO2 — became a cornerstone of climate policy analysis globally and is used by governments and regulatory agencies to evaluate climate policies. Nordhaus advocates for a globally coordinated carbon price as the most economically efficient mechanism to address climate change, and his work has shaped the intellectual debate between "green growth" advocates and "degrowth" critics. His research on measuring real output, particularly accounting for environmental externalities in national income accounts, extends his impact beyond climate to broader macroeconomic measurement.