Imbedding dynamic responses with imperfect information into static portraits of the regional impact of climate change

It is becoming increasingly clear, at least on a theoretical level, that modelers of the potential impacts of climate change must impose that change upon the world as it will be configured sometime in the future rather than confine their attention to considerations of what would happen to the world as it looks now. Initial baselines which focus on current circumstances are certainly worthwhile points of departure in any study, of course, but the truth is that social, economic, and political systems will evolve as the future unfolds; and careful analysis of that evolution across a globe experiencing changes in its climate must be undertaken, as well. In the vernacular of the analysts' workroom, while it may be interesting to try to see what would happen to dumb farmers'' who continue to do things as they always have regardless of what happens, it is critically important to evaluate the need for any sort of policy response to climate change in a world of smart farmers'' who will have observed the ramifications of climate change and responded in their own best interest. 9 refs., 2 figs.