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Gernot Wagner

Gernot Wagner

Writing for PS since 2016
26 commentaries

Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia Business School, is the author, most recently, of Geoengineering: The Gamble (Polity, 2021).

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  1. The Right Response to China’s Electric-Vehicle Subsidies
    wagner28_ PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_yellen PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

    The Right Response to China’s Electric-Vehicle Subsidies

    Apr 5, 2024 Gernot Wagner & Shang-Jin Wei explains why the United States and the European Union are considering tariffs – and why that’s a bad idea.

  2. What Does Trump Mean for the Climate?
    wagner26_MARK FELIXAFP AFP via Getty Images_texassolar Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

    What Does Trump Mean for the Climate?

    Mar 4, 2024 Gernot Wagner doubts that a change of power in the United States would derail the long-term trends that really matter.

  3. How to Assess the Outcome of COP28
    wagner25_Sean GallupGetty Images_cop Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    How to Assess the Outcome of COP28

    Dec 13, 2023 Gernot Wagner thinks new climate pledges made in Dubai this year should be welcomed as another small step forward.

  4. What Steel Decarbonization Needs
    wagner24_Sean GallupGetty Images_steel Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    What Steel Decarbonization Needs

    Nov 21, 2023 Chris Bataille & Gernot Wagner detail the policy interventions needed to clean up an indispensable, but carbon-intensive, sector.

  5. How China Can Save the World – and Itself
    wagner23_ Yan YichengVCG via Getty Images_ev china Yan Yicheng/VCG via Getty Images

    How China Can Save the World – and Itself

    Oct 30, 2023 Gernot Wagner & Conor Walsh show that the country’s slowing growth and rising emissions are both tied to the same problem.

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  1. ackerman2_Brian van der Brug  Los Angeles Times via Getty Images_preschool Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    America’s Childcare Is Unfit for the Postmodern Age

    Bruce Ackerman urges US President Joe Biden to put universal preschool at the center of his re-election campaign.
  2. acemoglu72_ Hulton ArchiveGetty Images_cottonhandweaving Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    History Already Tells Us the Future of AI

    Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson find policy lessons for the 2020s in the work of the early-nineteenth-century economist David Ricardo.
  3. silber3_William Thomas CainGetty Images_trumpplazahotel William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

    Trump and the Risk of a US Debt Default

    William L. Silber thinks the former president would be even more reckless if awarded another term this year.
  4. lboone2_Celestino ArceNurPhoto via Getty Images_ukraine Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Europe’s Red Tape Is Helping Russia

    Laurence Boone & Nicu Popescu

    The European Union’s cumbersome and narrowly defined regulations for public procurement and spending are not simply inadequate; they are dangerous. They weaken the bloc’s ability to protect itself from a broad range of Russian hybrid attacks while prolonging Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

    propose a European Defense Production Act to help fast-track processes for public procurement and spending.
  5. posner31_Spencer PlattGetty Images_trumptrial Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    What to Look for in Trump’s First Trial

    Eric Posner

    The intricate legal issues and colorful characters in Donald Trump's criminal trials will undoubtedly keep the media and the viewing public enraptured for months to come. But when it comes to the 2024 election, all that really matters is how the defendant appears to a narrow sliver of undecided voters.

    points out that optics, more than the law or the facts, will be what matters most for the election.
  6. nixonsaintil2_shark_749Getty Images_AIdataclimatecity shark_749/Getty Images

    AI Holds the Key to Resilient Cities

    Justina Nixon-Saintil surveys the technology's foreseeable applications in promoting urban sustainable development.
  7. ito36_ KAZUHIRO NOGIAFP via Getty Images_boj KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images

    How Risky Is Japan’s Monetary-Policy Normalization?

    Takatoshi Ito considers the implications of the central bank’s exit from negative interest rates and quantitative easing.
  8. bansal1_Getty Images_family Getty Images

    As Families Change, So Must the Safety Net

    Neha Bansal urges governments to implement policies that promote intergenerational integration and solidarity.
  9. skidelsky200_Getty Images_speech Getty Images

    The Language of Political Control

    Robert Skidelsky views recent linguistic innovations as manipulative efforts to compel “correct” thought and perception.

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