Publications

Designing and Updating a US Carbon Tax in an Uncertain World

A carbon tax policy that accounts for new scientific, economic, and political information can both send necessary price signals to reduce US carbon dioxide emissions and create incentives to leverage meaningful mitigation efforts by other countries.

Price Regulation and Environmental Externalities: Evidence from Methane Leaks

Using data from natural gas distribution utilities on expenditures and volume of methane leaked, this paper estimates the amount of money utilities are spending to abate leaks. Expenditures are suboptimal at less than the cost of gas itself.

Federal Funding for Flood Risk Reduction in the US: Pre- or Post-Disaster?

Household Location Decisions and the Value of Climate Amenities

What people are willing to pay to experience warmer winters or avoid hotter summers is an important component of the benefits of CO2 mitigation policies and can be used to assess the welfare effects of temperature changes throughout the United States.

EPA’s New Source Review Program: Time for Reform?

This article proposes reforms for the new source review program under the Clean Air Act, which provides important health and environmental benefits but has become a significant impediment to the growth and modernization of the US manufacturing sector.

The Impact of Climate Change on Food Calorie Production and Nutritional Poverty: Evidence from Kenya

US State and Local Oil and Gas Revenues: Sources and Uses

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

Information Provision and Consumer Behavior: A Natural Experiment in Billing Frequency

A Cautionary Tale on Using Panel Data Estimators to Measure Program Impacts

To credibly measure the effectiveness of public policies, when feasible, pilot programs with randomized control groups should be considered and rolled out first, to facilitate reliable program evaluations—before widespread implementation.

Threatened Protection: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Protected Lands of the Eastern United States

This article examines US coastal protected lands and the potential consequences and associated reductions in ecosystem services from sea level rise in the context of current funding and adaptation planning for conservation.

Bicycle Infrastructure and Traffic Congestion: Evidence from DC’s Capital Bikeshare

Urban bike sharing is gaining popularity for its purported health, environmental, and traffic congestion benefits. Evidence from Washington, DC, one of the most congested US cities, suggests that the Capital Bikeshare program reduces traffic congestion.

NFIP Premiums for Single-Family Residential Properties: Today and Tomorrow

In order to make the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) more financially stable, Congress has passed legislation to adjust pricing practices. Our brief assesses NFIP rate setting and presents premiums for examples of single-family properties.

Interactions between Climate and Local Air Pollution Policies: The Case of European Passenger Cars

Diesel fuel-powered vehicles typically emit more nitrogen oxides, which harm human health and the environment, than gasoline-powered passenger vehicles. Focusing on European new car markets, this paper analyzes the effects of vehicle taxes on emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

The Effects of Market Size and Fuel Costs on Fuel-Saving Technology Adoption in Passenger Vehicles

Passenger vehicle fuel economy standards require substantial new vehicle fuel economy improvements over the next decade. We demonstrate a strong link between a vehicle's market size (sales) and automakers' adoption of fuel-saving technology.

Environmental Protection for Sale: Strategic Green Industrial Policy and Climate Finance

When does green industrial policy create global benefits, and when does it distort trade? Is climate finance in support of clean technology deployment abroad ever an effective alternative?

Energy Policy and a Trump Administration

This brief examines the stated intentions of President-elect Trump’s campaign and transition team regarding energy policy, the potential roadblocks to their realization, and what the administration could reasonably and quickly turn into a reality.

US State and Local Oil and Gas Revenues

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.

Pricing Carbon Consumption: A Review of an Emerging Trend

Policymakers have begun imposing prices, via a tax or emissions trading system, on the consumption of carbon emissions. Our survey suggests that such policies can be designed to help improve economic efficiency and potentially ameliorate emissions leakage.

Is Energy Efficiency Capitalized into Home Prices? Evidence from Three US Cities

Energy efficiency and other “green” certification programs provide an information signal to the marketplace and can be a valuable way for homebuyers to learn about the related attributes of homes.

Spatial Distribution of Coal-Fired Power Plants in China

Risks and mitigation options for on-site storage of wastewater from shale gas and tight oil development

Experts assess the sources of risk associated with on-site shale gas wastewater storage, the existing knowledge gaps regarding these risks, policy and technology options for addressing the risks, and the relative merits of those options.

Using a Carbon Tax to Meet US International Climate Pledges

An economy-wide carbon tax is a feasible mechanism to achieve the US 2025 Paris Agreement emissions target. We examine the price level and associated costs of carbon taxes that achieve reductions of 28 percent below 2005 emissions by 2025.

Dynamics in Risk Taking with a Low-Probability Hazard

An experiment using financial stakes to simulate an infrequent environmental disaster reveals how people learn about and mitigate disaster risk. Subjects exhibited rationality along some dimensions of behavior and irrationality along others.

Transparency, Policy Surveillance, and the Comparison of Mitigation Efforts

Countries’ emissions mitigation pledges took many different forms under the 2015 Paris Agreement. This work highlights the role of transparency in understanding this variation and illustrates how economic tools can assess and compare mitigation efforts.

The 1,000 GtC Coal Question: Are Cases of High Future Coal Combustion Plausible?

Global energy projections commonly assume, absent policy interventions, that coal will substitute for oil and gas after 2050. We consider evidence for a coal backstop energy supply and its continued use in the IPCC’s baseline greenhouse gas scenarios.