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The Directorate for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation recently issued a call for white papers about “next-generation research challenges.” They invited submitters to outline “grand challenge questions” that “reflect deep issues that engage fundamental assumptions behind disciplinary research traditions and are transformative.” The following are lightly edited excerpts from the white paper I submitted along with Dr. Evelyn Fox Keller of the Program in Science, Technology and Society at MIT.

How can we integrate the role of values and ethics in economic analysis of climate change without sacrificing the positive aspirations of that science? (more…)

Following the release of the Stern Review and in discussions of the Kyoto Protocol, a debate has ensued among economists concerning how quickly and drastically societies should move to reduce carbon emissions, an issue with vast intergenerational repercussions. Yet a number of economists have argued that rigorous economic analysis of climate change can be accomplished without recourse to ethical value judgments. Indeed, economists often exhibit strong aversive reactions to any explicit consideration of ethics. Why this passion for dispassion? Feminist reflection on the discipline of economics offers some insights. (more…)