Social Science Space – Home of the Impact Conversation

Two academics who have integrated what might have once seemed like non-economic externalities into economic models have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in economics. The winners are William D. Nordhaus of Yale University, cited for integrating climate change into macroeconomic analysis, and Paul M. Romer of New York University’s Stern School of Business, cited doing the same with technological innovations.

David Canter reviews results of studies on the challenges of sustaining natural resources.

As we are often reminded, we urgently and drastically need to limit our use of one shared resource – fossil fuels – and its effect on another – the climate. But how realistic is this goal, both for national leaders and for us? Well, psychology may hold some answers.

Derek Wall praises ‘The Two Degrees Dangerous Limit for Climate Change: Public Understanding and Decision Making,’ Christopher Shaw’s exploration of environmental policymaking. The book focuses on the public circulation of 2°C as the widely cited maximum figure by which temperatures can be allowed to rise.

To move forward on climate change, argues Andy Hoffman, we have to disengage from fixed battle on one scientific front and seek approaches that engage people who are undecided about climate change on multiple social and cultural fronts.

Although the GOP is usually fingered as anti-science, biased attitudes toward scientific information and trust in the scientific community can be found among liberals and conservatives alike, new research shows. As you might expect, biases vary based on the science topic being considered.

The natural sciences present easy-to-follow prescriptions for addressing climate change. Unfortunately, getting human beings to sign on requires navigating a maze of psychological, domestic, social, economic, political and cultural forces.

Grappling with climate change going forward won’t be so much grappling with climate as it will be grappling with human reactions to the forces already in motion. Universities have a role to play in marshaling all their disciplines in this endeavor, says Matthew Nisbet.

Consciously we might be talking about the impending sustainability crisis, but unconsciously we find ways to actually maintain the status quo.

A much-shared screed against various types of science –including, predictably, most social science–has James Dyke scratching his head and quoting Wolfgang Pauli: ‘This isn’t right. This isn’t even wrong.’

in our debut cross-posting with Viva Voce Podcasts, Simon Chin-Yee describes his research studying how the political network in Kenya interacts with the changes wrought by climate change.

As an echo of the latest just-released IPCC report on climate change, Elaine McKewon details how one journal blinked when climate change skeptics turned up the heat on an article exploring conspiracy ideation and the rejection of science.