This year the Fed is forcing big banks to produce complex reports on their climate vulnerability in a “pilot project” that is sure to expand and might lead to lending restrictions. A query of the Fed’s listing of recent publications returns hundreds of research papers, press releases and policy statements related to climate change. The San Francisco Fed hosted a conference on climate change in May, in which 27 Fed economists participated.

With all this effort, one might hope the Fed would produce high-quality research on climate change. But I took a close look at two Fed studies on the subject and found shockingly poor analysis. These studies on the effect of temperature on U.S. and world economic growth are cited without a hint of skepticism and widely lavished with media attention. I’ve managed to debunk both.

[David sent me a note via e-mail about his column, joking the headline made it perfect for our site. True enough, but so does the substance of the column. Be sure to read it, and maybe even bookmark it for later reference. — Ed]