Economie des changements climatiques et structuration du champ de l’économie

This article deals with the Economics of Climate Change (ECC). This research area emerged in the mid-1970s and has grown exponentially since the mid-2000s. This paper is based on Richard Whitley’s characterisation of the general economic field as a ‘partitioned bureaucracy’, which makes a distinction between the centre and peripheral areas. We use bibliometric data to highlight the structure of the ECC and measure to what extent Whitley’s category helps to understand this field better. To complete these quantitative data we use qualitative data, collected via survey and interviews, and we analyse scientific publications. With the help of this combination of data, we are able to provide some explanation of the structuration of the ECC, as well as the role of interdisciplinarity and links with the political field in this process. We also provide insights about the rise of climate change and global warming in the social hierarchy of objects in economics