Nobel-winning economist William Nordhaus dies at 85

November 3, 2026

William D. Nordhaus, the Yale economist whose research put a price on climate-related harm and helped shape policy across several administrations, died at home in New Haven on October 30. He was 85. Yale said the cause was glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.

Nordhaus and economist Paul M. Romer jointly received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The Nobel committee recognized his work on weighing the long-term damage of climate change against the cost of limiting it. His model, developed over decades, informed regulations around the world and helped establish research linking economics and earth science.

Nordhaus viewed climate change as a serious threat but argued that its potential harms should be considered alongside the expense of prevention. He advocated a gradually increasing carbon tax. The idea drew support from figures including Bernie Sanders and James A. Baker III and George P. Shultz, both former holders of the secretary of state post, who called it a “conservative climate solution.” Carbon taxes have rarely been adopted, while many governments have used emissions-trading systems. A U.S. House proposal passed in 2009 but failed in the Senate.

His model also helped give rise to the social cost of carbon, a measure of the benefits of reducing emissions. The Obama administration used it in rules covering power plants and vehicles; the second Trump administration barred its use in rulemaking last year.

Born in Albuquerque in 1941, Nordhaus earned degrees at Yale and MIT, then returned to Yale as a professor in 1967. He also served in 1977 on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Jimmy Carter. In a 2018 interview, he criticized Donald Trump’s statements about climate change.

Nordhaus’s Climate Economics Helped Make the Costs of Pollution Count

November 3, 2026

William Nordhaus spent decades bringing environmental damage into economic calculations, work that helped governments assess the stakes of carbon emissions. The Yale economist and Nobel laureate died at 85 at his home in New Haven on October 30. Yale said he had glioblastoma.

Nordhaus’s model weighed climate change’s long-term damage against the expense of limiting it. It informed regulations internationally and helped establish the social cost of carbon, a measure used by the Obama administration in rules for power plants and vehicles. The second Trump administration later barred that measure from rulemaking, while President Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax.”

Nordhaus argued that climate change threatened humanity and proposed a carbon tax that would rise over time. The approach found support across party lines, but corporate opposition and political resistance have left carbon taxes rarely adopted. Emissions-trading systems have spread instead, and a U.S. House climate proposal passed in 2009 before dying in the Senate.

His 2018 Nobel recognized a method for accounting for climate damages and the cost of action. Nordhaus criticized Trump’s climate statements that year, even as colleagues regarded him as scrupulously apolitical. His legacy centers on making environmental harm visible in economic decision-making—an approach whose role in federal policy has since become contested.

Nordhaus Balanced Climate Action Against Its Economic Costs

November 3, 2026

William Nordhaus’s influence on climate policy rested on a balancing act: he treated climate change as a serious threat while insisting that the cost of preventing it mattered too. The Yale economist and Nobel laureate died at his New Haven home on October 30, aged 85. Yale said the cause was glioblastoma.

The model he refined over decades weighed long-term climate harm against the cost of limiting it. The Nobel committee cited that work when Nordhaus shared the 2018 economics prize with Paul M. Romer. Nordhaus advocated a relatively small carbon levy that would rise over time, an idea backed by Bernie Sanders and James A. Baker III and George P. Shultz, both former holders of the secretary of state post, who described it as a “conservative climate solution.”

Carbon taxes have seldom been put in place, amid corporate opposition and political resistance. Many governments instead adopted emissions-trading systems, while a U.S. House proposal passed in 2009 and failed in the Senate. These outcomes underline the political difficulty of turning climate economics into policy.

The social cost of carbon, an outgrowth of Nordhaus’s work, became a tool for Obama-era rules on power plants and vehicles. The second Trump administration prohibited its use in rulemaking last year. Nordhaus criticized Trump’s climate statements in 2018, but his work itself emphasized weighing both environmental damage and the expense of government action.