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.
Tag Archives: acid rain
Reflections on Twenty Years of Policy Innovation
In 2009, the U.S. Congress considered but ultimately failed to enact legislation aimed at limiting U.S. greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The bill under consideration at that time, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, was the last in a … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Economic Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Politics, Positive Political Economy
Tagged acid rain, cap-and-trade, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, efficiency, environmental politics, externalities, global climate policy, market failure, market-based environmental policies, Obama Administration, Office of Management and Budget, regulation, SO2 allowance trading, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Waxman-Markey legislation
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Cap-and-Trade: A Fly in the Ointment? Not Really
For more than two decades, environmental law and regulation was dominated by command-and-control approaches — typically either mandated pollution control technologies or inflexible discharge standards on a smokestack-by-smokestack basis. But in the 1980s, policy makers increasingly explored market-based environmental policy … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy
Tagged acid rain, cap-and-trade, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, efficiency, environmental politics, global climate policy, market-based environmental policies, regulation, transaction costs, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Waxman-Markey legislation
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The Making of a Conventional Wisdom
Despite the potential cost-effectiveness of market-based policy instruments, such as pollution taxes and tradable permits, conventional approaches - including design and uniform performance standards – have been the mainstay of U.S. environmental policy since before the first Earth Day in … Continue reading
The Myth of Simple Market Solutions
I introduced my previous post by noting that there are several prevalent myths regarding how economists think about the environment, and I addressed the “myth of the universal market” – the notion that economists believe that the market solves all … Continue reading