Kamiar Mohaddes

Associate Professor in Economics and Policy

Deputy Director of the Cambridge Executive MBA Programme

Fellow and Co-Director of the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab at King’s College

BSc (University of Warwick), MPhil, PhD (University of Cambridge)

My research interests include climate change, economics of the Middle East, energy economics and applied macroeconomics.

My articles have been published in a number of edited volumes as well as in leading journals, and have been covered in major international news outlets. I’m among the top 2% of authors in IDEAS/RePEc based on last 10 years of publications.

I have worked extensively on issues related to climate change and sustainability with both the public and the private sector and I’m also the Co-Founder and Director of the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab at King’s College, and Co-Director of the University of Cambridge climaTRACES Lab.

Professional experience

Kamiar Mohaddes is an expert in the macroeconomics of climate change and sustainability at the University of Cambridge, where he is the Co-Director of the climaTRACES Lab, a new interdisciplinary research initiative at the University of Cambridge focusing on climate, nature, and sustainability. He is also the Deputy Director of the Cambridge Executive MBA programme and Fellow in Economics at King’s College, Cambridge, where he co-founded and directs the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab.

In addition to climate change and sustainability, Kamiar’s research covers energy economics, economics of the Middle East, and applied macroeconomics more broadly. He is among the top 1% authors globally in IDEAS/RePEc (based on last 10 years of publications). His articles have been published in a number of edited volumes (Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Routledge) as well as in leading journals, including the Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of International Economics, Management Science, and the Review of Economics and Statistics. His research has also been covered in major international news outlets including the BBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Kamiar’s work has been cited extensively by policymakers, including by more than 25 members of the United States Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, and the White House.

Kamiar has worked extensively on issues related to climate change and sustainability with both the public (including the United Nations, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, IDB) and the private sector (BCG, BNP Paribas, KPMG and many others). He is a regular visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund and has previously served as a Departmental Special Advisor at the Bank of Canada. He has worked closely with colleagues at these institutions to, for instance, develop tools to help examine and disentangle the size and speed of the transmission of different global, regional, and national macroeconomic shocks.

Kamiar obtained his PhD in economics from Cambridge as a Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar.

Previous appointments

Dr Kamiar Mohaddes was previously a Janeway Fellow in Economics at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

Publications

Selected publications

Journal articles

Books, monographs, reports and case studies

Book chapters

  • Chudik, A., Pesaran, M.H. and Mohaddes, K. (2020) “Identifying global and national output and fiscal policy shocks using a GVAR.” In: Pesaran, M.H., Li, T. and Terrell, D. (eds.) Advances in econometrics: vol.41: essays in honor of Cheng Hsiao. Bingley: Emerald Publishing, pp.143-190
  • Chudik, A., Pesaran, M.H. and Mohaddes, K. (2019) “Identifying global and national output and fiscal policy shocks using a GVAR.” In: Pesaran, M.H., Li, T. and Terrell, D. (eds.) Advances in econometrics: vol.41: essays in honor of Cheng Hsiao. Bingley: Emerald Publishing (forthcoming)
  • El-Anshasy, A., Mohaddes, K. and Nugent, J.B. (2019) “Oil, volatility and institutions: cross-country evidence from major oil producers.” In: Mohaddes, K., Nugent, J.B. and Selim, H. (eds.) Institutions and macroeconomic policies in resource-rich Arab economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.52-72 (DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198822226.003.0003)
  • Mohaddes, K., Nugent, J.B. and Selim, H. (2019) “Objectives, issues and findings.” In: Mohaddes, K., Nugent, J.B. and Selim, H. (eds.) Institutions and macroeconomic policies in resource-rich Arab economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.1-14 (DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198822226.003.0001)
  • Mohaddes, K., Nugent, J.B. and Selim, H. (2019) “Reforming fiscal institutions in resource-rich Arab economies: policy proposals.” In: Mohaddes, K., Nugent, J.B. and Selim, H. (eds.) Institutions and macroeconomic policies in resource-rich Arab economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.237-271 (DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198822226.003.0009)
  • Cashin, P., Mohaddes, K., Raissi, M., Elbadawi, I. and Selim, H. (2016) “The global impact of the systemic economies and MENA business cycles.” In: Elbadawi, I.A. and Selim, H. (eds.) Understanding and avoiding the oil curse in resource-rich Arab economies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.16-43 (DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781316493854.003)
  • Chudik, A., Mohaddes, K., Pesaran, H.M. and Raissi, M. (2016) “Long-run effects in large heterogeneous panel data models with cross-sectionally correlated errors.” In: Hill, R.C., Gonzalez-Rivera, G. and Lee, T.-H. (eds.) Advances in econometrics: vol.36: essays in honor of Aman Ullah. Bingley: Emerald Publishing, pp.85-135 (DOI: 10.1108/S0731-905320160000036013)
  • Mohaddes, K. and Raissi, M. (2016) “Does inflation slow long-run growth in India?” In: Anand, R. and Cashin, P. (eds.) Taming Indian inflation. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, pp.115-129
  • Mohaddes, K. and Pesaran, M.H. (2014) “One hundred years of oil income and the iranian economy: a curse or a blessing?” In: Alizadeh, P. and Hakimian, H. (eds.) Iran and the global economy: petro populism, Islam and economic sanctions. London: Routledge, pp.12-45

Working papers

News and insights

Gates Cambridge Scholars.

3 students will be joining Cambridge Judge Business School this autumn as Gates Cambridge Scholars. Aashka Tank, Sadhana Lolla and Uchechukwu Ogechulwu will start their MPhil studies at the Business School in October.

Businessman walking towards skyscrapers.

Cost of inaction on climate change far outweighs the cost of proactive investment, says new analysis issued at New York Climate Week.

No country is immune from the impact of climate change if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed.

New research co-authored by Kamiar Mohaddes estimates that global GDP per capita could decline up to 24% by the century’s end without significant efforts to combat climate change.

Media coverage

Bloomberg | 24 September 2024

Bond investors alerted to hidden risks in ratings blind spot

The article references research by Kamiar Mohaddes, Associate Professor in Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, into the effect of climate change on sovereign creditworthiness.

The Sydney Morning Herald | 21 August 2023

Trillion-dollar cost of climate change will challenge federal budget

A study by Kamiar Mohaddes, Associate Professor in Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, is cited in an article on the effect of climate change on Australia’s budget.

Financial Times | 17 August 2023

Lex in depth: how investors are underpricing climate risks

A paper on climate smart sovereign credit ratings, co-authored by Dr Kamiar Mohaddes and published in Management Science, is featured in the FT. 

Reuters.com | 7 August 2023
Climate change puts sovereigns at downgrade risk, study finds

Investopedia | 22 August 2023
Here’s where climate change could cause credit downgrades

The Peninsula | 9 March 2023
Qatar, region must adopt renewable capital: Panel

The Economic Times of India, 7 August 2023
Climate change could reduce India’s credit rating, study finds

Responsible Investor, 7 August 2023
Researchers call for regulatory climate crackdown on sovereign credit rankings

BQ Prime, 7 August 2023
Climate change could reduce India’s credit rating, study finds

WION, 7 August 2023
Unchecked climate change to cost nations billion in debt

The Economic Times of India, 3 August 2023
Ratings firms struggle with climate risk in $133 trillion market

Bloomberg, 1 August 2023
Ratings firms struggle with climate risk in $133 trillion market

Nature | 17 November 2022
Social media enables people-centric climate action in the hard-to-decarbonise building sector

Phys.org, 16 March 2022
Cold and wet hits US states harder in some sectors

Financial Times, 19 January 2022
Responsible Business Education Awards: full shortlists

The Boston Globe, 21 December 2021
Compared with climate action, Build Back Better is downright cheap

The Conversation, 5 November 2021
Climate finance: It’ll be cheaper in the long run if poorer countries receive it as a matter of urgency

Business Weekly, 4 November 2021
US big-hitters back study on climate change economic impact

The Washington Post, 19 October 2021
The costs of climate change are getting lost on Capitol Hill

Bloomberg, 23 September 2021
A climate reckoning is coming for the world’s government debt

Reuters, 13 August 2021
Analysis: Debt in a warm climate: coronavirus and carbon set scene for default

Financial Times, 8 July 2021
The case for ‘truly-long-term’ debt ratings

The Telegraph, 6 July 2021
California’s heat dome poses unprecedented challenge for world’s fifth-biggest economy

Tejarat-e Farda, 12 June 2021
Kamiar Mohaddes talks about the state of the world economy after Covid-19

South China Morning Post, 11 May 2021
Why China has more to gain from fighting climate change than other countries

The New York Times, 7 April 2021
How debt and climate change pose ‘systemic risk’ to world economy

World Economic Forum, 6 April 2021
Study: Global warming could cut 63 countries’ credit ratings

VoxEu.org, 25 March 2021
Rising temperatures, melting ratings

Reuters, 18 March 2021
Global warming could cut over 60 countries’ credit ratings by 2030, study warns

Financial Times, 18 March 2021
AI can shine digital sunlight on to company greenwashing

The Guardian, 18 March 2021
UK, US and others face credit rating fall over CO2 emissions – study

Financial Times, 4 March 2021
The shifting fronts in the battle over EU trade policy

Le Figaro, 3 March 2021
United Kingdom: tax increases to finance “whatever the cost”

Donya-e Eqtesad, 6 December 2020
Benefits of buying a vaccine

The Times of India, 4 December 2020
‘What Covid-19 shows is that the global economy is not very resilient. Climate change could hit it severely’

Fox Business, 16 November 2020
Jeff Bezos spends almost $800M on Earth fund

Sohu, 22 October 2020
Slow post-pandemic recovery

World Economic Forum, 20 October 2020
The economic consequences of Covid-19: Why no country is immune

Scientific American, 11 August 2020
Our planet, our choice

Newsweek, 9 March 2020
Iran faces fourth crisis in oil crash amid U.S. sanctions, coronavirus and protests

Fox News, 19 February 2020
Extreme weather could cause a massive economic recession ‘like we’ve never seen before’

ABC News, 6 February 2020
Are economists globally understating or overstating the cost of climate change?

CNBC, 16 January 2020
Developing economies reliant on agriculture are more exposed to climate risks

Forbes, 4 December 2019
Innovating your way out of the resource curse

CNBC, 19 November 2019
Climate change could shave off three per cent of the world economy, study finds

World Economic Forum, 8 November 2019
A ‘green interest rate?’ Fed digs into climate change economics

Scientific American, 1 November 2019
Warming will cost rich and poor countries alike

World Economic Forum, 30 September 2019
Climate change will shrink these economies fastest

The Telegraph, 16 September 2019
What does the oil price surge mean for the UK economy?

The Nation, 4 September 2019
The green new deal is cheaper than climate change

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