Publications

Decommissioning US Power Plants: Decisions, Costs, and Key Issues

This report describes costs and key issues for power plant owners after a coal, gas, oil, wind, or solar plant retires.

Systems Analysis in Electric Power Sector Modeling: Evaluating Model Complexity for Long-Range Planning

This report examines more sophisticated modeling for benefit-cost analysis of electricity policies and infrastructure.

Determinants of Successful Collective Management of Forest Resources: Evidence from Kenyan Community Forest Associations

US State and Local Oil and Gas Revenue Sources and Uses

Growth in oil and gas production has led to major new revenues for US state and local governments. This paper examines the top 16 oil and gas producing states, showing substantial variation in how these revenues are collected and allocated.

Risk Preferences and the Poverty Trap: A Look at Farm Technology Uptake amongst Smallholder Farmers in the Matzikama Municipality

Households’ Risk Perceptions in Response to Shale Gas Exploitation: Evidence from China

Self-Enforcing International Environmental Agreements: The Role of Climate Tipping

Effects of Increases in IQ in India on the Present Value of Lifetime Earnings: A Structured Expert Judgment Study

Many policy interventions targeting the health of infants and young children are thought to raise cognitive performance. This study finds that in India, large-scale measures that effectively raise IQ would have substantial economic benefits.

Voluntary Exposure Benefits and the Costs of Climate Change

Warmer, wetter weather may lead to an increase in traffic injuries and fatalities unless interventions are put in place to adapt to these changing conditions.

Balancing the Carbon Budget for Oil: The Distributive Effects of Alternative Policies

North American Energy Outlook: Capitalizing on Cross-Border Collaboration

How can Canada, Mexico, and the United States maximize the benefits of further cooperating on key environmental and fiscal policy areas related to oil and gas development across the continent?

Designing State Policies to Complement US Federal Standards for Vehicle GHG Emissions

If carefully designed, state policies can complement federal measures to help achieve a cleaner vehicle fleet and more efficient transportation system.

The Effect of Standards for New Vehicle Fuel Economy and GHG Emissions on US Consumers

US federal regulations aim to increase the fuel economy of new automobiles and reduce their GHG emissions. How do the standards affect vehicle consumers?

Integrated Outlooks for Energy, Transportation, and Climate Policy

RFF experts assess the prospects for harmonizing energy policy across North America, examine US federal standards and state policies for new vehicle emissions and fuel economy, consider the future of self-driving cars, and more.

Climate Change: Might Present Harm Improve Policy Prospects?

If climate change harms those living today, enacting policy to address it may be more likely.

Is the Future Now? Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Consumer Demand

How much are people willing to pay for self-driving cars? RFF’s Benjamin Leard discusses his work on consumer demand for autonomous vehicles and the potential implications for society of wider adoption of these new technologies.

The Next Big Thing in Carbon Markets? RGGI to Implement an Emissions Containment Reserve

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative plans to implement an innovative new mechanism to help reduce price volatility in the market for emissions allowances.

The Strategic Costs of Carbon Emissions: Global versus Domestic Policy Considerations

Reconciling domestic and global estimates of the social cost of carbon will be a necessary challenge to construct effective climate policy, especially to the extent that other countries look to the United States for climate leadership.

Challenges to Reducing Air Pollution in China amid Economic Slowdown

China faces complex challenges to reduce air pollution while still promoting economic growth. No simple solution exists—but policy reforms to reduce excess capacity and get prices right can help in both the near and long terms.

The Accident Externality from Trucking

Using data from the Pennsylvania shale gas boom, we find each additional truck on the road increases the number of accidents involving a truck—but, to an even larger extent, the number of car-on-car collisions.

Notching for Free: Do Cyclists Reveal the Value of Time?

Bike-share users may trade off their time to save money by going out of the way to avoid a price increase. We estimate how users value time in this context: commuters value time more than recreational users, but neither group responds to changes in price.

Speeding the Pace: Decisionmaking for Diversion Project Implementation in Louisiana

Proposed Mississippi River diversions—designed to increase wetland acreage on the Louisiana coast—must secure federal, state, and local government approvals and withstand possible legal challenges.

Expanding the Toolkit: The Potential Role for an Emissions Containment Reserve in RGGI

This research and analysis demonstrates that an emissions containment reserve (ECR) would provide several important benefits to help improve the functioning of the market for emissions allowances under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Natural Gas vs. Oil in U.S. Transportation: Will Prices Confer an Advantage to Natural Gas?

Determinants of Adoption and Impacts of Sustainable Land Management and Climate Smart Agricultural Practices (SLM-CSA): Panel Data Evidence from the Ethiopian Highlands