About the Author
Robert N. Stavins is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, and Chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Group.
Category Archives: Natural Resource Economics
On the Origins of Research
In response to my last essay at this web site, “On Becoming an Environmental Economist,” several readers suggested that someday I should write about the origins of my various research initiatives over the past 25 years. Today, I’m doing that … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Policy, Economic Stimulus Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Fisheries Policy, Forest Policy, Health Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, Politics, Positive Political Economy, Water Policy, Wine Economics
Tagged benefit-cost analysis, cap-and-trade, common property resources, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, environmental politics, externalities, free rider problem, global climate policy, Kyoto Protocol, linkage of cap-and-trade systems, market failure, market-based environmental policies, regulation, revenue-neutral taxes
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On Becoming an Environmental Economist
My essay this month represents a departure from my standard blog posts about a contemporary environmental policy issue. Rather, it is of a more personal nature, and stems from the fact that the second volume of my collected papers has … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Policy, Economic Stimulus Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Fisheries Policy, Forest Policy, Health Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, Politics, Positive Political Economy, Water Policy, Wine Economics
Tagged benefit-cost analysis, cap-and-trade, common property resources, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, environmental politics, free rider problem, global climate policy, information problems, Kyoto Protocol, linkage of cap-and-trade systems, market failure, market-based environmental policies, public goods, regulation, revenue-neutral taxes
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Economics of the Environment
The Sixth Edition of Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings has just been published by W. W. Norton & Company of New York and London. Through five previous editions, Economics of the Environment has served as a valuable supplement to … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Policy, Economic Stimulus Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Fisheries Policy, Forest Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, Politics, Positive Political Economy, Water Policy
Tagged Australia, benefit-cost analysis, Brazil, California, cap-and-trade, China, common property resources, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, environmental politics, European Union, externalities, free rider problem, global climate policy, import allowance requirement, India, information problems, Japan, Korea, Kyoto Protocol, linkage of cap-and-trade systems, market failure, market-based environmental policies, Mexico, Obama Administration, Office of Management and Budget, public goods, regulation, revenue-neutral taxes, sulfur dioxide
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Reflecting on a Century of Progress and Problems
As the first decade of the twenty-first century comes to a close, the problem of the commons is more important to our lives – and more central to economics – than a century ago when the first issue of the … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Fisheries Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, Positive Political Economy
Tagged A. C. Pigou, American Economic Review, benefit-cost analysis, cap-and-trade, China, common property resources, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, Elinor Ostrom, environmental politics, excludable, externalities, fisheries, free rider problem, Garrett Hardin, global climate policy, India, Indiana University, Katharine Coman, market failure, market-based environmental policies, non-excludable, non-renewable natural resource, open-access resource, private property, public goods, regulation, renewable natural resource, revenue-neutral taxes, rivalness, Ronald Coase, sulfur dioxide, Wellesley College
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Both Are Necessary, But Neither is Sufficient: Carbon-Pricing and Technology R&D Initiatives in a Meaningful National Climate Policy
For many years, there has been a great deal of discussion about carbon-pricing – whether carbon taxes or cap-and-trade – as an essential part of a meaningful national climate policy. It has long been recognized that although carbon-pricing will be … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Economic Stimulus Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, Positive Political Economy
Tagged ARPA-E, cap-and-trade, carbon pricing, carbon tax, Copenhagen Accord, cost-effectiveness, David Leonhardt, efficiency, environmental politics, externalities, free rider problem, global climate policy, green jobs, information problems, market failure, market-based environmental policies, New York Times, Obama Administration, patents, public goods, R&D, regulation, revenue-neutral taxes, Robert Hahn, technological change, technology innovation, technology R&D policies, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Wall Street Journal, Waxman-Markey legislation
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Unintended Consequences of Government Policies: The Depletion of America’s Wetlands
Private land-use decisions can be affected dramatically by public investments in highways, waterways, flood control, or other infrastructure. The large movement of jobs from central cities to suburbs in the postwar United States and the ongoing destruction of Amazon rain … Continue reading
Posted in Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Forest Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, Water Policy
Tagged benefit-cost analysis, Clean Water Act, common property resources, econometric analysis, economic valuation, environmental politics, externalities, free rider problem, infrastructure, land use, market failure, public goods, regulation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Soil Conservation Service, wetlands
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Is Benefit-Cost Analysis Helpful for Environmental Regulation?
With the locus of action on Federal climate policy moving this week from the House of Representatives to the Senate, this is a convenient moment to step back from the political fray and reflect on some fundamental questions about U.S. … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy
Tagged benefit-cost analysis, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, environmental politics, externalities, first welfare theorem, global climate policy, information problems, market failure, monetary values, Obama Administration, Office of Management and Budget, regulation, Regulatory Impact Analysis, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, uncertainty, Waxman-Markey legislation
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Does economic analysis shortchange the future?
Decisions made today usually have impacts both now and in the future. In the environmental realm, many of the future impacts are benefits, and such future benefits — as well as costs — are typically discounted by economists in their … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Natural Resource Economics
Tagged benefit-cost analysis, discount rate, discounting, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, global climate policy, monetary values, Office of Management and Budget, regulation, Regulatory Impact Analysis, temporal analysis, time, uncertainty
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Using Markets to Make Fisheries Sustainable
Around the world, over-fishing is leading to severe depletion of valuable fisheries. This is as true in U.S. coastal waters as it is in many other parts of the world. In New England waters, for example, after two decades of … Continue reading