Tipping elements and climate-economic shocks: Pathways toward integrated assessment

The literature on the costs of climate change often draws a link between climatic 'tipping points' and large economic shocks, frequently called 'catastrophes'. The use of the phrase 'tipping points' in this context can be misleading. In popular and social scientific discourse, 'tipping points' involve abrupt state changes. For some climatic 'tipping points,' the commitment to a state change may occur abruptly, but the change itself may be rate-limited and take centuries or longer to realize. Add...