Nobel Prize Economist William D. Nordhaus Dies at 85
William D. Nordhaus, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who pioneered the advocacy for a global carbon tax to combat climate change, has died at age 85.
Economist William D. Nordhaus, a pioneer in climate economics and co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize, died Friday at age 85. Nordhaus spent his career arguing that a pollution charge on carbon emissions was the most effective remedy for the harmful side effects of economic growth, which he believed led to excessive fossil fuel burning and ecological damage.
To project the relationship between economic growth and emissions, Nordhaus developed the Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) model. While his proposals gained support from some former U.S. Treasury secretaries and conservative economists, they faced decades of resistance from the American anti-tax movement and the fossil fuel industry.
Industry groups, including the American Petroleum Institute and Exxon Mobil, commissioned research to argue that carbon taxes would be catastrophic for the economy. Additionally, the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research published a paper challenging the validity of the DICE model. Although various international entities and some U.S. states adopted carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems, federal legislation in the United States never passed.
