NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
March 14, 2005
"Cape Wind Damage"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program
"Massachusetts is one of the few states in the country that has decided to address the climate problem and restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. On paper, it has extolled the virtues of renewable energy and has put in place requirements that will force its utilities to purchase an ever increasing amount of their power from renewable sources. At this time, the only feasible renewable option for meeting a significant portion of these requirements is to build a measurable amount of wind generation. Since no one is suggesting that the state or federal government build this capacity themselves, private developers have to be willing to step up to the plate and invest their money to meet their goals."
March 2005
"Effects of Vintage-Differentiated Environmental Regulation"
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
Vintage-differentiated regulations (VDRs) are standards that are fixed with respect to the date of entry of regulated units, with later vintages facing more stringent standards. VDRs play prominent roles under major Federal, state, and local environmental laws. This paper synthesizes what is known about the effects of environmental VDRs, and develops lessons for public policy and for research. Economic theory suggests that such age-discriminatory regulations retard turnover of the capital stock, drive up the cost of environmental protection, and can increase pollution levels. Empirical studies validate theoretical predictions that VDRs delay replacement of durable goods, and thereby increase aggregate pollution abatement costs. In some cases, empirical studies also validate the perverse consequence that environmental progress is itself retarded.
January 6, 2005
Harvard Announces 2005 Roy Family Environmental Award; New Hybrid FedEx Trucks Will Reduce Emissions 96%, Increase Fuel Efficiency 50%
Press Release
2005
Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings
Book
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
Over four editions, Economics of the Environment has established itself as the standard student reader for environmental economics courses. A rich complement to other texts, this accessible reader provides a balanced selection of classic and contemporary readings to firmly ground students’ understanding in the field’s primary literature. The Fifth Edition has been carefully reorganized; over a third of the selections are new.
January 2005
"Environmental Economics"
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
This paper provides an overview of the economics of environmental policy, including the setting of goals and targets, notably the Kaldor-Hicks criterion and the related method of assessment known as benefit-cost analysis. Also reviewed are the means of environmental policy, that is, the choice of specific policy instruments, featuring an examination of potential criteria for assessing alternative instruments, with focus on cost-effectiveness. The theoretical foundations and experiential highlights of individual instruments are reviewed, including conventional command-and-control mechanisms and market-based instruments.
January 2005
Land-Use Change and Carbon Sinks: Econometric Estimation of the Carbon Sequestration Supply Function
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
When and if the United States chooses to implement a greenhouse gas reduction program, it will be necessary to decide whether carbon sequestration policies — such as those that promote forestation and discourage deforestation — should be part of the domestic portfolio of compliance activities. We investigate the cost of forest-based carbon sequestration.
January, 2005
Meeting the Climate Challenge: Recommendations of the International Climate Change Taskforce
Report
By John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
2005
"Using Revealed Preferences to Infer Environmental Benefits: Evidence from Recreational Fishing Licenses"
Journal Article, Journal of Regulatory Economics, issue 2, volume 28
By Alexander Wagner, Former Research Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program, 2002-2003 and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
Econometric results lead to estimates of the benefits of a fishing license, and subsequently to the expected benefits of a recreational fishing day.Our findings show substantial variation in the value of a recreational fishing day across geographic areas in the United States.
December 30, 2004
Political Economy of Environmental Regulation
Book
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation is a new authoritative collection comprised of previously published papers: economic analyses of the processes through which political decisions regarding environmental regulation are made, principally in the institutional context found in the United States. Despite this geographic focus, many of the papers contain analytical models that are methodologically of interest and/or have lessons that are relevant in other parts of the world.
In the environmental realm, questions of political economy emerge along three fundamental dimensions, which are closely interrelated but conceptually distinct: (1) the degrees of government activity; (2) the form of government activity; and (3) the level of government that has responsibility. The first three parts of the book deal respectively with these three fundamental dimensions of inquiry. The fourth part of the book examines the use of economic analysis in contemporary environmental policy.
The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation will be of significant interest to environmental scholars, students and policy makers alike.
