My name is Dan Hirschman and I am Associate Professor of Sociology at Cornell University and a member of the graduate field in Science & Technology Studies. I contribute to the sociology group blog scatterplot, and I previously maintained an individual blog. You can reach me at dan.hirschman@cornell.edu or find me on Mastodon.

My current research examines “The Costs of Climate Change.” How much will climate change cost? And how will we know? This project explores how experts (especially economists and engineers) have constructed climate change as a social and economic problem, and in particular how their techniques of valuation have shaped public discourse and policy debates. I highlight the striking divergence between economic experts and climate scientists on the urgency of climate action. I focus on two causes of that divergence: damage functions and mitigation cost estimates. High estimates of mitigation costs and low estimates of damages have led economic experts to argue for slower climate action and fueled “climate delay” discourse. The first working paper from this project is available here.