The Cultures of Markets

How can humanity best tackle climate change? Knox-Hayes's nuanced examination of how emissions markets developed in the US, Europe, East Asia and Australia is a vital contribution to a crucial debate. * Donald MacKenzie, Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh *
Janelle Knox-Hayes has written the definitive treatment of governance, markets and climate change. In the light of the Paris Accord we need a path forward to realise the lofty ambitions of the signing governments. Knox-Hayes addresses this issue, amongst others challenging us to think about reconciling national interests with climate governance at the local and global levels. It is essential reading for academics, policy makers and those of us committed to making a difference to the future. * Gordon Clark, Professor and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University *
Climate change presents one of the most complex and consequential collective action problems in human history. Can it be solved through the creation of markets? In this carefully researched, lucidly argued book, Janelle Knox-Hayes explores the variegated institutional, financial and cultural logics of market-based approaches to climate governance, from Euro-America to the Asia-Pacific region. Building on the tools of economic geography, historical political economy and the new sociology of finance, Knox-Hayes offers an original, illuminating account of the construction and operation of emissions markets, their limits, their failures and their potentials. An essential contribution to our understanding of emergent attempts, at global, national and subnational spatial scales, to stimulate, intensify and coordinate institutional responses to climate change. * Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, Harvard University *
Janelle Knox-Hayes has to be congratulated for this impressive monograph. The book on climate governance uses a cultural-economic conceptualization to discuss the development of emissions markets in a comparative study, thus connecting economic geography with approaches in political economy, finance and sociology. The book puts climate governance on the agenda of the social sciences and it does this with an impressive literacy of the field. The comparative perspective in part II is particularly illustrative as it analyzes diverse experiences with climate governance in different political economies worldwide. This leads to a synthesis of the different structures in part III and a discussion of pathways toward a broader cultural-institutional understanding of the making and valuation of emissions markets. * Harald Bathelt, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Innovation and Governance, University of Toronto *
Janelle Knox-Hayes addresses an important and often overlooked topic in the literature on climate change governance. Local customs and practices play a critical role in the development of new markets and related institutions. At a time when market-based solutions are at the forefront of policy options around the world, her book asks the right questions. * Richard L. Sandor, Chairman and CEO, Environmental Financial Products LLC and Aaron Director Lecturer in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School *