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Frank Ackerman

Frank Ackerman is the Director of the Research and Policy Program at the Global Development and the Environment Institute at Tufts University.

 

Ackerman received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Swarthmore College. His current interests include the economics of materials, waste, environmental health, energy and climate change and their relationship with the environment. Ackerman was the co-founder and editor of Dollars & Sense magazine and has also studied the economics of energy and environmental policy at the Tellus Institute in Boston.

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What the stock market and environmentalists could learn from each other

It's no surprise that financial disaster has pushed environmental problems out of the news of late. But it's too bad that they can't get together somehow; the two areas of crisis, and the needed solutions, have a lot in common. The common thread is that both involve risks of rare, catastrophic events. In both cases, the prudent response is to focus on insurance against worst-case risks, rather than cost-benefit analysis of the most likely outcomes.
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2009 - The end of an error?

My favorite quote from the recent campaign was the statement in Obama's acceptance speech at the convention in Denver. Speaking about the United States, he said, "We are better than these last eight years."