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Climate change is the most significant problem confronting humanity. It will make a total hash of the global economy. The burning of fossil, the release of methane gas and the release of refrigerant gasses all put chemicals in the atmosphere which make climate change worse. Because various aspects of climate change make people sick, economies will collapse as people suffer poor health.

The burning of fossil fuels, in addition to releasing the climate change driving CO2, releases toxic chemicals and particles which harm human health. The chemicals, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the presence of sunlight leads to the formation of ozone which harms the lungs on an acute and chronic basis. It causes asthma attacks which limit a suffers' ability to work and to go to school. It can also cause the new development of asthma.

Trapping CO2 and other green house gases in general heats the earth. The heal of many suffer as a result of this increased heat. This is especially true for the elderly, outdoor workers of all types and athletes practicing or playing in hot weather. The terrible heat wave that paralyzed much of the Pacific Northwest in The US and caused unheard-of hi temperatures in western Canada in the summer of 2021 was responsible for hundreds of deaths.

The excess heat dries out the land contributing to droughts with resultant wildfires and crop failures.

With excess dryness in come parts of the country and globe comes excess rain and flooding with their attendant health and economic impacts.

Tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones are events with devastating health and economic consequences. The loss of so many livelihoods is not only bad for the economy; but the mental health impacts in depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder are both debilitating and expensive.

There are other aspect of climate change that negatively impact on health; and all of those have negative economic impacts as well.

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We have been “too nice.” That, and playing by the rules, was manipulated. AI can be set up to address these attributes for disinformation purposes: And, was/is. Change is coming. It is starting now. Wish I could predict which way it’s going to go. Gonna be a ride for the next few months.

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Whose economics? Professor Coyle makes it very clear that the professional group answering this question is a very small group, not representative of our larger human community. That in itself is enough to declare economics, as practiced, a failed social science. It is any wonder that so many folks are willing to endure the obscene economic inequality in the US and elsewhere?

Economists like Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman have argued against the wretched effects of inequality. One has to ask how many folks out there are tuning into their opinion pieces in The Guardian and The New York Times as opposed to those who get their information(?) from Fox News or other alternate on-line platforms of data (I hesitate to call much of it information, since that implies a kind of conceptual coherence and clarity)? Prof. Coyle gives us a hint of the answer with her Brexit example. Not that many, as folks tune in to alternate forums of news(sic) to get their fix on what is happening in the wider world.

This issue is not going away. So I presume it is up to us who want a wider intellectual perspective on the critical social and political issues facing us to seek out minds like Prof. Coyle, doing our best to introduce her work to others who might be willing to give her thinking consideration.

The work is endless. And as one saying has it, probably not capable of being fully completed, and yet, the option of laying this work down is not permitted.

That's life.

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In this age of unreason we are living in, no area of study including economics is immune. In the world at large and in particular here in America we are seeing record levels of inequality. 40 years of neo liberalism has funneled money to the very top tiers of society. Ordinary people and the middle classes have struggled, unions eroded or wiped out and people barely get by paycheck to paycheck while Republicans accuse Democrats of being socialists for trying to level the playing field by raising taxes on billionaires.

In 'How Democracies Die' one the key factors scholars point to are high levels of inequality. Illiberalism thrives on high levels of inequality. Autocrats and strongmen use nationalism to take advantage of inequality because it bolsters their case for the myth of national renewal. When things are bad and people have economic anxieties, that's when autocrats and authoritarians like to say 'I alone can fix it' and persecute minorities as scapegoats.

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Yes, thanks for introducing us to yet another excellent source of information (and her quote about "self-elected priesthoods" in economics is perfect).

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Thanks for the introduction to Diane Coyle! Very interesting interview.

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