Claims that climate change poses a “risk” to the coal industry are “ludicrous,” according to a leading U.S. economist, who has warned Australian members of Parliament not to allow overseas institutions to dictate the country’s development. John Cochrane, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and author of “Asset Pricing,” a widely used textbook in universities, said even if oil wells, and coal mines began losing value due to a shift towards renewable energy development, the transition would be gradual over several decades and not immediate. “The financial system will not blow up,” he said, noting these industries had been stable for decades and were funded by long-term debt, which was not volatile. “The dangerous assets are the Teslas of the world: the high-flying, overpriced growth stocks. The slow decline of industries has never caused financial problems,” he added. “The 2000 tech bust was not a bust …