Policy Brief—Facilitating Retrospective Analysis of Environmental Regulations

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Date

June 7, 2018

Authors

Maureen L. Cropper, Richard D. Morgenstern, and Nicholas Rivers

Publication

Journal Article

Reading time

1 minute

Prospective or ex ante studies of the costs, benefits, and distributional impacts of new environmental regulations are now commonly performed in many countries. Retrospective analyses, which aim to document actual outcomes, are far less common. The purpose of this policy brief is to illustrate the value of retrospective analysis of environmental regulations, discuss the main challenges of conducting such studies, and make suggestions for facilitating the conduct of retrospective analyses. We examine recent examples of ex post analyses of three sets of U.S. regulations—the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Cluster Rule, the NOx Budget Program, and federal gasoline content regulations—and British Columbia’s carbon tax. Based on this review, we offer some lessons for facilitating future retrospective analysis of environmental regulations.

Topics

Benefit-Cost Analysis

Authors

Maureen L. Cropper

Senior Fellow

Maureen Cropper is a a senior fellow at RFF, professor of economics at the University of Maryland, a member of the Board of Directors at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Richard D. Morgenstern

Senior Fellow

Richard Morgenstern is a senior fellow at RFF. His research focuses on the economic analysis of environmental issues with an emphasis on the costs, benefits, evaluation, and design of environmental policies.

Nicholas Rivers

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