William D. Nordhaus
Yale University
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Primary Section: 64, Human Environmental Sciences Secondary Section: 54, Economic Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2001)
Photo Credit: Yale University |
Research Interests
My research has concentrated largely on economic growth and its byproducts. One strand has been to determine whether our conventional measuring rods (such as the gross domestic product) accurately capture the effects of growth on economic welfare. More recently, I have pursued this in research on non-market accounting, environmental accounting, and time-use studies. Another strain of my research has been to understand the process of technological change. This work began with studies of the externalities involved in technological change and investigated the value of new technologies in the energy and environmental arenas. Another application of this question was to the process of induced innovation. I have also undertaken a number of studies measuring productivity growth and technological change, including a study of the economic history of lighting back to Babylonian times. In the last decade much of my research has involved understanding the economics of climate change. This research has involved both studies of key economic issues (such as the costs of mitigation and the impacts of climate change) and development of integrated assessment models linking the economic and geophysical aspects of climate change.
