Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

We consider the role of integrated assessment models (IAMs) in estimating the social cost of carbon (SCC) for U.S. regulatory purposes. Our approach is rooted in the needs of U.S. institutions responsible for making and implementing climate policy, specifically regulatory agencies within the Executive Branch and Congress should it choose to take up climate legislation. We argue, first, that policy makers need a numerical value for the SCC for policy evaluation and implementation. This cannot be done credibly without sophisticated computer models that incorporate climate and economic considerations, that is, without IAMs. Second, whatever the true value of the SCC …