Talking a Lot, Yet Little to Say: Economics Imperialism in the Economics of Climate Change

Title data

Heisse, Christiane:
Talking a Lot, Yet Little to Say: Economics Imperialism in the Economics of Climate Change.
In: Review of Radical Political Economics. (2026) .
ISSN 1552-8502
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/04866134251415573

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Mainstream economics is ill equipped to deal with systemic issues such as the climate crisis. Yet there is no shortage of approaches that extend neoclassical principles to nature-economy relations, and they hold considerable currency in policy discourses. This article interrogates neoclassical thought on climate change from the perspective of economics imperialism, the expansion of economic analysis onto new subject matter at the expense of other approaches. Drawing on the work of William Nordhaus and Nicholas Stern, I argue that climate change economics has been underpinned by economics imperialism in its second “market imperfection” and third “suspension” phases. Economics imperialism has thus contributed to excluding considerations of power, race, class, gender, and other systemic inequalities from the field, and underpins solutions that delay radical climate action.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Subject classification:	JEL: B41, B50, Q50, Q54
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Chair Economic Geography > Chair Economic Geography - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Ouma
Result of work at the UBT:	No
DDC Subjects:	300 Social sciences 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics 900 History and geography > 910 Geography, travel
Date Deposited:	14 Apr 2026 05:14
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2026 05:14
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/96772