DISCUSSION PAPERS
"Responding to the Threat of Agroterrorism: Specific Recommendations for the United States Department of Agriculture"
Responding to the Threat of Agroterrorism
"Is Consensus an Appropriate Basis for Regulatory Policy?"
Observers of environmental policy increasingly urge regulators to build consensus before making policy decisions. By seeking consensus, regulators are supposed to be able to reduce conflict, increase compliance, improve public policy, and promote public participation. Yet consensus-building markedly shifts the prevailing norms of governance in the United States by de-centering the role of agency officials, making
them facilitators or negotiation partners rather than central, accountable decision makers charged with seeking solutions that advance the overall public interest.
"Policy Instruments for Climate Change: How Can National Governments Address a Global Problem?"
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
There continues to be a great debate about the desirability of taking actions to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions, but it is important to consider policy instruments that can be employed to meet targets that may eventually be forthcoming. The theoretical advantages of market-based instruments,, such as carbon taxes and systems of tradable carbon rights, are striking In the U.S. domestic context, grandfathered tradable permits will probably be the preferred approach (if any) in the short run, although revenue-neutral carbon taxes will hold greater promise in the long run. In the international context, a system of international tradable permits could provide important advantages over alternative approaches, but it is difficult to imagine what existing international institution could adminster such a system. Hence, despite the great theoretical advantages of market-based approaches to addressing global climate change, neither domestic political barriers nor international institutional impediments to implementing these and other instruments should underestimated.
"Technological Diffusion in China's Iron and Steel Industry"
Any serious attempt to address the global climate change problem must involve the diffusion of energy-efficient technologies into the industrial sector of countries critical to future global emissions. China is expected to be the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions by early next century due to its high economic growth and reliance on coal. Although the diffusion of energy-efficient technologies in China has increased since the start of market reforms in 1978, much improvement is still needed.
