Economics is "the dismal science," in part because it puts a price tag on the pleasure of moralizing. This is pertinent to the crusade, often masquerading as journalism, aimed at hectoring developed nations into taking "strong" actions against global warming. For such nations (developing nations have more pressing priorities), the question, plainly put, is: How much are they willing to pay—in direct expenditures, forgone economic growth, inefficiencies and constricted freedom—in order to have a negligible effect on climate change

　　Zealots say fighting global warming is a moral imperative, so cost-benefit analyses are immoral. But in his book "Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming," the Danish economist Bjorn Lomborg suggests that global warming, although real, is not apt to be severe; that many of its consequences will be beneficial, and that the exorbitant costs of attempting to substantially curtail it would squander resources that, put to other uses, could have effects thousands of times more ameliorative.

　　Global warming was blamed for 35,000 deaths in Europe's August 2003 heat wave. Cold, however, has caused 25,000 deaths a year recently in England and Wales—47,000 in each winter from 1998 to 2000. In Europe, cold kills more than seven times as many as heat does. Worldwide, moderate warming will save more lives than it will cost—by a 9-to-1 ratio. So, if substantially cutting carbon dioxide reverses warming, that will mean a large net loss of life globally.



双语新闻：经济是gate“沉闷的科学”
　　经济学是一gate“沉闷的科学”，部分原因是它给说教的乐趣贴上了价格的标签。这和讨伐有关，经常以新闻报道的面目出现，目的是吓唬发达国家采取“强有力”的措施对付全球变暖。对于这些国家来说，(发展中国家还有更为紧迫的事要做)明摆着的问题是：它们愿意付多少代价 ——以直接支出、放弃经济增长、降低效率、减少自由等方式使得对气候变化的影响微不足道？

　　狂热分子说，抗击全球变暖在道义上是绝对必须的，因此，成本效益分析是不道德的。但是丹麦经济学家比约恩·隆博格在他的《降温：好怀疑的环境[屏蔽]者的全球变暖指南》一书中指出，尽管全球变暖确实存在，但不会变得很严酷，它所产生的很多后果可能是有益的。在实质性地控制全球变暖方面耗费过高将是对资源的浪费，这些资源如果用于其它方面，所产生的效果可能会好上数千倍。

　　全球变暖被认为是造成欧洲2003年8月热浪的元凶，那次热浪造成35000人死亡。然而近年来，寒冷每年在英格兰和威尔士造成25000人死亡—— 1998年到2000年，每年冬季有47000人死于寒冷。在欧洲，冻死的人数是热死人数的7倍。在世界范围内，适度的变暖所拯救的生命和造成的死亡的比率是9比1。因此，如果大量减少二氧化碳的排放来逆转全球变暖将意味着在全球范围内产生一个巨大的净死亡数。