Providing facts on how to do the most good for the world.
Cutting out hyperbole about the world's biggest issues.
Stimulating debate on solving the biggest problems.
Copenhagen Consensus Center's project How Much have Global Problems Cost the World? A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050 (Cambridge University Press, Oct 10) measures the main problems on a comparable scale and without the opportunity to just focus on particular areas or statistics that reinforce the optimist or pessimist case.
In this project we asked some of the world’s top economists – experts on 10 overarching issues (these run from disease to biodiversity and conflict, from climate change to education and gender inequality) to quantify the damage caused from e.g. poor health, biodiversity loss and wars from 1900 and till 2050. They compare this damage – on a regional and global level – to the total human wealth at that time to give a comparable sense of proportion across areas and across time. This essentially measures the problem in percent of world GDP. The result is a state-of-the-art review of 150 years of the problems, and for many areas one of or the first economic evaluation of the entirety of the problem.
Interested in Climate Change? See what the Copenhagen Consensus thinks here…
Hi Rick, thank you for this but what’s the point?
First, the report says the commissioners (Danish Government) consulted ‘Economists’; can you think of a worst bunch to analyse the big global issues?
Second, the Danish Government apparently asked them ‘to quantify the damage caused from e.g. poor health, biodiversity loss’; this is a non-starter because it is extremely difficult, if at all possible, first to quantify, then second, to analyse properly, complex social issues as those listed.
Third, as always with these intellectual arguments, you can often find equally compeling ‘anti-arguments’; here is one that critiqued the 2004 study from one of my favourite commentators, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs (I suspect many of the same arguments hold):
http://earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/about/director/documents/nature081204.pdf
Verdict? Not impressed, mate.
Got to love those Danes, they even make us look smart at times.. Back around 2003, Denmark in its noble quest for Alternative Energy has more wind turbines per capita (6,000) than any country in the World.. Yet in that same year, the Danish government introduced a moratorium so that no more wind turbines could be constructed.. This was because when the wind blew in the correct direction and at the proper velocity, the electrical energy produced was uneconomical and had to be exported to Norway.. When, God forbid, the winds were not blowing, Denmark had to import huge quantities of energy from Germany.. As a result, Denmark has the most expensive energy grid in Europe and is completely dependent upon Germany for its energy needs.. The problem was the high and uneconomical costs of alternative energy as Denmark can import electricity from its neighbor at a 30 percent cost savings to their own wind turbine fiascoes..
When it comes from Denmark and it is not beer or cheese, extreme caution should be exercised as their botched alternative energy flop clearly demonstrates.. To bad the masterminds in Washington, D.C. never knew much about the Danish disaster.. Billions of wasted dollars might have been saved from faulty investments that were to end up in ultimate bankruptcy..
There are important lessons here, worthy of careful consideration.. When Ideology has absolute priority over Rational Reasoning, you cannot expect logical and rational outcomes.. Just think Bahamas VAT which is on par with Obmacare and Danish wind turbines.. Ideological thinking is a one way ticket to policy failure.. Unfortunately, the VAT train and its boxcars are about to leave the station and ALL Bahamians are being forced aboard..
Listen carefully and you might just overhear, “Hay man wheres you think we going?? “Me thinkits some place named Poverty so I hear tell.. Guess time will only tell, but why are them fellas locking the boxcars so we can’t get out??” “Not so sure we like this thing they call VAT”..
I do not think there should be any fear on Alternate energy flopping here,
Our Government will never get around to a sensible policy, therefore it will never get off the ground.
BEC management/entrenchment will help to make sure of that.
The best approach is gradual, and private sector driven,but The Government proclamation of 30% by 2025 from a standing start is pure foolishness!
We are the laughing stock of that global industry in any case, and while foreign investors have rushed in over the last year based on Government “coming out of the closet” years late and Dollars short with favorable policy promised,
Most if not all have left……Burned.
The day we get tired of crapping on our own front porches,
is the day we may start the long road to recovery.