Climate change and psychological adaptation: A behavioral environmental economics approach

Abstract

Economic models of climate policy (or policies to combat other environmental problems) typically neglect psychological adaptation to changing life circumstances. People may adapt, to different degrees, to a deteriorated environment. The present paper addresses these issues in a model of optimal tax policy to combat climate change and discusses the consequences for optimal climate policies. Furthermore, from a normative-methodological point of view, we argue that psychological adaptation needs to be taken into account even by a pure welfarist policy maker, who aims at internalizing an intertemporal externality.