SIPA Faculty - Scott Barrett

Scott Barrett

Lenfest-Earth Institute Professor of Natural Resource Economics

SIPA Faculty - Scott Barrett

International Affairs Building, Room 1427


Personal Details

Focus areas: International cooperation, global public goods, climate change, ocean governance, infectious diseases

Scott Barrett is a leading scholar on transnational and global challenges, ranging from climate change to disease eradication. His research focuses on how institutions like customary law and treaties can be used to promote international cooperation.

He has advised a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the OECD, the European Commission, and the International Task Force on Global Public Goods. He was previously a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a member of the Academic Panel to the Department of Environment in the UK.

Barrett previously taught at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where he also directed the International Policy program. Before that, he was on the faculty of the London Business School. He has also held visiting positions at Yale, Princeton, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, and École Polytechnique.

Barrett is a research fellow with the Beijer Institute (Stockholm), CESifo (Munich), and the Kiel Institute of World Economics.

Education

  • PhD in Economics, London School of Economics

Honors and Awards

Research And Publications

Social Norms as Solutions: Policies May Influence Large-Scale Behavioral Tipping

Oct 2016

Science

Scott Barrett

Karine Nyborg

Critical Factors for Providing Transnational Public Goods

Sep 2016

Global Public Goods

Scott Barrett

In The Media

Climate & Sustainable Development

An expert on transnational and global challenges ranging from climate change to disease eradication, the SIPA professor is one of five Columbians to be so honored.

May 08 2024
Columbia News
Climate & Sustainable Development

Scott Barrett, Noah Kaufman and Joseph Stiglitz write that instead of focusing so much on international climate conferences that require unanimous support, rely on hollow voluntary commitments, and ultimately have little effect on emissions, policymakers should be pursuing narrower binding agreements.

Jan 25 2024
Project Syndicate

Nature has evolved a diverse portfolio of species to maintain ecosystem function amid environmental fluctuations. Scott Barrett and co-authors examine the response to our era of unprecedented turbulence.

Jan 30 2023
Nature

Whether or not countries will follow through on their commitments is uncertain. “The incentive is to hold back, because each country represents just a small part of the total progress needed,” says Scott Barrett.

Nov 22 2021
The Boston Globe

Whether countries will follow through on the commitments made at the Glasgow climate talks is uncertain. “The incentive is to hold back, because each country represents just a small part of the total progress needed,” says Scott Barrett.

Nov 22 2021
The Boston Globe