Appetizer

If global warming takes place, what will be the economic impacts? Many people just assume any impact must be negative, and the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (the IPCC is the international body charged with assessing global warming) predicts nothing but dire economic outcomes. Economists, however, are not so pessimistic, and some conclude global warming will likely have a net positive impact on the U.S. economy. However, there is still the possibility of negative impacts in other parts of the world, like North Africa and India, which must be taken very seriously. But on the whole, economists predict the economic impacts of global warming, if it takes place, for the next century to be quite modest and overall positive.