The aim of the climate transition is to minimise the long-term losses of well-being that would result from inaction. However, the necessary policies are likely to incur costs in the short and medium term. Standard of living indicators will serve their intended purpose if they accurately reflect these costs. Nevertheless, some of them may be underestimated, resulting in a greater impact than suggested by conventional indicators. Conversely, the well-being cost of the transition could be lower if non-monetary co-benefits emerge quickly enough and/or if preferences shift: reduced access to polluting goods has a different impact depending on whether the intrinsic taste for these goods remains strong or declines. While these questions are relevant to various contexts, the climate transition offers an opportunity to examine them in greater depth.

Blanchet, D. & Pesme, C. (2024). Costs and Co-Benefits of Climate Transition Policies: How Accurately Will They Be Measured by Standard of Living and Well-Being Indicators? Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 543, 3–20.
doi: 10.24187/ecostat.2024.543.2116