Research that Informs Business and Public Policy
Industry and utility customers should chip in to support the carbon price floor. The Covid-19 crisis has led to all sorts of dramatic changes in lifestyles and economies. The energy … Continue Reading The High Cost of Low Carbon Prices
Lower trade barriers on dirty industries effectively subsidize climate change. Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash In my new working paper and cool accompanying video released today, I assess how international … Continue Reading International Trade Policies Subsidize Pollution
There could be long run consequences for public transit ridership after this crisis is over. Currently, there are a large number of economists telling epidemiologists how to do their job … Continue Reading Will We Still Be Riding on the Same Bus Post Corona?
Last week’s EPA decision adds insult to injury for our already vulnerable communities. Perhaps you missed it. There’s a lot going on right now. But amidst all the COVID-19 headlines … Continue Reading What Just Happened to the Mercury Rule?
Economists can’t predict the future, but economics can help improve policy today. Oil markets aren’t the first thing that hardly anyone thinks about when reading updates on the novel coronavirus. … Continue Reading Oil Market Impacts of COVID-19
Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have increased during the Trump presidency. The EPA just released the latest greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. This is a massive report and public dataset … Continue Reading Is This a Trump Bump?
In 1960 only 2% of U.S. homes were heated with electricity. Today it’s 38%. U.S. households burn vast amounts of fossil fuels on-site for home heating: 2.7 trillion cubic feet … Continue Reading Electrification? We Are Already On The Way
Regional market coordination delivers a win for climate change mitigation. There’s an important experiment underway in the Western United States as we inject more and more renewable energy into the … Continue Reading The Little Energy Market That Could
It won’t reduce energy use much, but it can fundamentally alter where that energy comes from. A decade ago, there seemed to be a Kumbaya trend in climate policy. Politicians … Continue Reading What Can Carbon Pricing Do?
The latest twist in the Trump fuel economy rollback. The year 1969 was highly notable—Apollo 11 landed on the moon, free love blossomed at Woodstock, and Richard Milhous Nixon was … Continue Reading Waving Goodbye to the California Waiver?
A recent working paper highlights the importance of accounting for environmental protection in measures of GDP. Last November, I gained new appreciation for clean air. It wasn’t because I went … Continue Reading A Better Way to Measure Economic Growth
What would the Lorax say about today’s forest offsets? The race is on. Democratic presidential candidates are jockeying for position. And climate change is emerging as a top priority. Jay … Continue Reading Are Trees Getting Too Much Climate Credit…or Not Enough?
It has a face that only economists can love? We economists have long been enamored with carbon pricing. The concept is simple and sensible. If the economic damages from greenhouse … Continue Reading The Trouble with Carbon Pricing
Today EVs are driven much less than other cars, which has big implications for the environment. Where in the country you drive an electric vehicle matters a lot for the … Continue Reading All Charged Up, No Place to Go
A new policy proposal uses bad science to undermine the Social Cost of Carbon. The most important number in environmental economics that most people have never heard of is called … Continue Reading Whose Climate Damages Should Count?
Could California’s ambitious zero carbon electricity policy make it harder to cut greenhouse gasses overall? Sometimes two ideas that seem joined at the hip end up butting heads. A couple … Continue Reading 100% of What?
