Effects of global climate change on the U.S. forest sector: Response functions derived from a dynamic resource and market simulator

This paper assesses the economic repercussions global climate change may have on the United States forest sector. The authors apply an economic forest sector model that accounts for a wide range of possible biological forest responses to climate change. Results are inputs for response functions, which yield overviews of the impacts caused by climate change. They found that the welfare of producers 30-40 years in the future is at greatest risk. However, overall impacts on both producers and consumers are relatively small, possibly due to the capacity of the forest sector to adjust, thus mitigating some of the effects of climate change.