Climate economics and public goods

Michael Finus conducts research on externalities (spillovers) where coordination and cooperation would lead to global welfare gains but which typically suffer from "free-riding" (i.e., not everyone contributes their fair share). He analyzes the factors that cause free-riding and investigates which measures could mitigated those negative incentives. Many of these problems relate to collective decision-making and public and global governance. International and global environmental problems, such as climate change and overfishing are prominent examples. A particular focus is on the strategic interaction between mitigation, adaptation and geoenginnering strategies and their associated risks in the context of climate change.

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