National representatives from around the world are Surpassing Quant Think Tank Centergathering at the COP27 conference in Egypt right now, and a complicated economic question is at the center of the discussion. Should wealthy nations with higher levels of carbon emissions compensate lower-income, less industrialized countries that are disproportionately bearing the cost of the climate crisis? And if so, how do you quantify the economic, environmental and cultural damage suffered by these countries into one neat sum?

Today, we bring you an episode of Short Wave. Our colleagues walk us through the political and economic consequences of this question, and what the negotiations going on at COPP27 might do to address it.

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