This paper is interesting, important, though-provocative and raises a large set of questions about how economists can test the impacts of unintended ecological effects. Congratulations to @eyalfrank.bsky.social and Anant Sudarshan www.eaere.org/erik-kempe-award-2026-eyal-frank-and-anant-sudarshan/

Maintenant, en français (Now, in French): @projectsyndicate.bsky.social www.project-syndicate.fr/commentary/s...

Comment (ne pas) préserver les forêts tropicales

Bård Harstad identifie de meilleures alternatives au Fonds pour la pérennité des forêts tropicales, qui semble voué à l’échec.

project-syndicate.fr

Thanks @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social for a fantastic overview over contract theory research docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Theory and Applications of Contracts Conference Programme 2026.docx

Theory and Applications of Contracts Conference Venue: Imperial College Business School, South Kensington, London (Room: LGS) Monday 29 June 2026 9:00 -9:15 Welcome & Opening Remarks ...

docs.google.com

Please circulate our Call for Papers for the POLITICAL ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE @gsb.stanford.edu, Nov 11-12. Submission deadline: Aug 31. Jointly organized with @allanhsiao.bsky.social www.gsb.stanford.edu/events/polit...

The Political Economics of Sustainability

This conference focuses on the politics and the economics of environmental problems and regulation.

gsb.stanford.edu

Conserving tropical forests is extremely valuable. It would thus be disastrous if wealthy countries are discouraged from financing conservation in the future because they try and fail with a flawed scheme, especially when better alternatives exist, I argue: www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/s...

How (Not) to Conserve Tropical Forests

Bård Harstad identifies better alternatives to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, which seems destined to fail.

project-syndicate.org

Ny handelsavtale? De fleste vet kanskje ikke at i dag, 2. juni (for dere som er i Norge), skal Stortinget behandle (og trolig ratifisere) frihandelsavtalen mellom Efta og Mercosur. Avtalen har vært svært kontroversiell: Den er som en slags tilhenger til handelsavtalen mellom EU og Mercosur,.

For a climate treaty to be maximally robust, strong, and self-enforcing, it must properly balance supply- and demand-side instruments, from Geir B. Asheim and Bård Harstad www.nber.org/papers/w35128

As expected, but was it wise to push this before the election? news.bloombergtax.com/financial-ac...

Danish PM Drops Wealth Tax to Remove Hurdle in Government Talks

Denmark’s acting prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said she will drop her proposal to introduce a wealth tax, thereby removing a key hurdle in talks to form a new government.

news.bloombergtax.com

The physical distance may be large, but the 2026 Prize by Stanford @siepr.bsky.social draws attention to the EU's forthcoming (decarb+competitiveness) transition: siepr.stanford.edu/news/mario-d...

Mario Draghi, influential EU economist, receives 2026 SIEPR Prize

The former president of the European Central Bank is recognized for his career in shaping economic policy, including leading the euro bloc through its 2010s debt crisis.

siepr.stanford.edu

Gass konkurrerer med både kull og fornybare energikilder. Våre forskningsresultater om det grønne energiskiftet har tydeligvis provosert noen. Takk til #Minerva for at syv feilaktige påstander om forskningen blir tilbakevist i et åpent tilgjengelig innlegg: www.minerva.no/bard-harstad...

Klimafellefeil av Sjølie

Én forskningsbeskrivelse inneholdt syv betydelige feil

minerva.no

John List has a disturbing LinkedIn post on the job market for economists. Between trump's attack on university/research and his destruction of the government infrastructure for managing and evaluating policy, big hit on economics hiring. www.linkedin.com/posts/johnal...

AEA job market update. The numbers don't lie: this is the toughest market for PhD economists in recent memory. JOE listings are down 20% from last year. Worse: they are 19% below COVID levels. L...

AEA job market update. The numbers don't lie: this is the toughest market for PhD economists in recent memory. JOE listings are down 20% from last year. Worse: they are 19% below COVID levels. Let t...

linkedin.com

Once in a while, academic research uncovers good news for some of us. Happy new year!

This will be interesting (for me) because the project is still very much in progress...

POLECONUK Webinar@poleconukinar.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Our last talk this calendar year is on Monday, 15 December 2025. We host Bård Harstad (Stanford), who will present new research titled "Political Commitment Bonds" @bardharstad.bsky.social. See abstract in the thread below 👇

If you read French, I hope you can confirm: I point to security concerns, the importance of independence of Russian gas, Norway’s relatively clean extraction technology, how it can be transferred to others, and how all of this relates to The Gas Trap. Thanks @baptlanglois.bsky.social @lexpress.fr

FT refers to my criticism of current forest financing and the solution that payments should be forest-linked loans. de Resende's concern about indebted tropical countries can be addressed because: -FLLs can and will replace existing debt -FLLs are not supposed to be repaid www.ft.com/content/5e84...

Hard questions loom at COP30 summit

‘Climate finance’ approaches are under scrutiny

ft.com

Now on YouTube: An important econ & climate conference by Norway's NBIM&NB. @president.ecb.europa.eu, Gore, Hsiang etc At 1:25, I explained why policy and finance decisions are coordination games, why expectations are self-fulfilling, and what consequences this has www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsGL...

Norges Bank Climate Conference 2025 | Exploring the Macroeconomic and Financial Impacts

YouTube video by Norges Bank Investment Management

youtube.com

På klimakonferansen, som ofte ellers, fokuserer vi økonomer ofte på BNP/vekst. Dette er først og fremst fordi vi kan måle/verdsette slike effekter, og det underestimerer effektene: Om det blir mindre regnskog og is kan BNP øke, men det gjør ikke effektene ønskelige www.nbim.no/en/responsib...

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics. 🧵 1/7

Today is a beautiful date for honoring Pythagoras (and the simplest proof of his theorem)

On the "economics" of it, of course...

International Growth Centre@theigc.bsky.social · 11mo ago

#LSEEnvironmentWeek 2025: Biodiversity Join us online to explore the urgent challenge of #biodiversity loss & the economic innovations needed to address it. 22 Sept | 2:45pm - 3:45pm BST 🎙️@bardharstad.bsky.social Register: lse-environment-week.com/environment-...

Det er for tidlig å konkludere at venstresiden vant valget. Når (/om) både Sp og MDG innser at de kan vippe regjeringen, er det høyresiden som vinner: Siden Sp og MDG ønsker motsatt politikk på noen områder, vil høyresiden kunne "kjøpe" en av dem, uansett hvilken platform Ap ender opp med å tilby.

What's the future of carbon pricing? To answer, one must understand political economics. More than 800 scholars have realized this and signed up for the 9/9 Webinar by @eaere.bsky.social on this exact topic. You can still do it: www.eaere.org/events/suppo...

Nå tilgjengelig opptak av @kholtsmark.bsky.social mm: www.klimastiftelsen.no/arrangement/...

Petropraten: Står gassen i veien for fornybar energi?

Det sies at gass er veien til fornybar, men kan gass i stedet stå i veien for fornybar? En ny studie viser at gass kan bidra til å bremse omstillingen.

klimastiftelsen.no

To conserve forests, @cop30brazil.bsky.social proposes TFFF. TFFF has severe weaknesses but can, fortunately, be modified if payments are forest-linked loans rather than grants -- among other things discussed in this Policy Brief: drive.google.com/file/d/1B4sW...

SIEPR@siepr.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Deforestation in the tropics will be a key issue at the upcoming @UN.org climate conference ‪@cop30brazil.bsky.social‬. In our latest policy brief, SIEPR Senior Fellow @bardharstad.bsky.social outlines ways to strengthen a proposed global fund designed to help finance conservation. ⤵️ bit.ly/4ouaEyB

Indeed: - if this destructive bill becomes law – just weeks ahead of Cop30 in Belém – it threatens to erode Brazil’s credibility on the global stage. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Brazil’s president signs environmental ‘devastation bill’ but vetoes key articles

Campaigners had urged Lula to veto the bill entirely, but many have welcomed his alterations

theguardian.com

Beautiful -- but this is a Norwegian pic of climate change. Melting glaciers bring particles that color lakes green.

Why is it not only sad and ironic, but also indicative of extremely poor Brazilian judgement to select Belém as the location for COP30? 🧵 www.bbc.com/news/article...

Amazon rainforest cut down to build highway for COP climate summit

The infrastructure required to host COP30 in Belém is undermining the cause, campaigners say.

bbc.com

I’ll modestly suggest my own book ‘Resources Matter: ending poverty while protecting nature’ (OUP). The PDF is free to download (open access) 👇 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Forskningspublikasjonen "The Gas Trap", med @kholtsmark.bsky.social, byr på et par anbefalinger for norsk energipolitikk: www.dn.no/kronikk/det-...

Europa kan havne i gassfellen

Naturgass er bra for klimaet på kort sikt – men ikke på lang.

dn.no

The Gas Trap FT OpEd - paper version (based on the forthcoming JPE with @kholtsmark.bsky.social )