Cees A. Withagen

Economics of climate change

Cees Withagen has conducted research in the economics of climate change. In a recent article, with Gerard van der Meijden and Frederick van der Ploeg, he suggested that second-best issues such as carbon leakage and the Green Paradox need to be complemented with a political economy analysis of why certain instruments are politically infeasible and also complemented with intra- and intergenerational analyses of the impact of climate policy. The researchers also make a case for more empirical work on the gradual and catastrophic damages of global warming.

Mr. Withagen’s main research interest is in the economics of non-renewable resources and climate change, on which he has published many articles and several books. He focuses on the various aspects of the Green Paradox, mainly in the context of economic growth and the dynamic and strategic interaction between importers and exporters of fossil fuel and the development of substitutes. Together with Rick van der Ploeg (Oxford University) he received an ERC Advanced Grant in 2011 to study the political economy aspects of the Green Paradox.

Cees Withagen is professor of economics at IPAG Business School in Paris and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Economics at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Department of Spatial Economics in the School of Business and Economics. He holds a master’s degree from Tilburg University in econometrics with a specialization in mathematical economics as well as a PhD also from Tilburg University. He is currently a Fellow of Tinbergen Institute and CentER (Tilburg University), a CESifo Research Network Fellow and a Research Professor at the ifo Center for Energy, Climate and Exhaustible Resources. He is associate editor of the Journal of Economic Dynamics and member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and of the Scientific Advisory Board of Environmental and Resource Economics.