Stephen J. DeCanio visits UCF Feb. 7

Through the Distinguished Speakers series, the College of Sciences is bringing Stephen J. DeCanio to UCF on February 7.

DeCanio will speak at 1:30 p.m. in room 117 in the Teaching Academy. His talk is titled “Game Theory and Climate Diplomacy.”

The discussion will cover the lack of progress in reaching an international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions due to economic and political situations.

DeCanio explains in his abstract saying, “potential explanations for the impasse (and suggestions for how to get past it) are suggested by different game-theoretic characterizations of the strategic interactions of the major countries.”

He will explain further during the speech next week.

DeCanio is Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research deals with global environmental protection. DeCanio has been a member of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Economic Options Panel, which reviewed the economic aspects of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

He also served as Co-Chair of the Montreal Protocol’s Agricultural Economics Task Force of the Technical and Economics Assessment Panel. His most recent book, Economic Models of Climate Change: A Critique discusses some of the limitations of conventional general equilibrium models when applied to climate policy. His current research focuses on the consequences of the limits of computation for social theory.