Payments for environmental services (PES) have become a popular approach to address environmental degradation. However, evidence on its effectiveness is mixed. PES is not a panacea, but there are many cases where PES can be a promising tool. Yet poor PES design translates into poor performance...

Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to determine the stringency of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), arguably the most important federal environmental program, without considering the costs of achieving these standards. Instead, it...

This chapter from a forthcoming Cambridge Press book, Beyond Environmental Law, proposes emulating free market dynamics with a new regulatory instrument, the Environmental Competition Statute. This statute would authorize any polluter making a pollution reduction to require a dirtier competitor...

The fundamental question that needs to be addressed by public policy in the area of environmental protection as we move into the next century is, "what is the appropriate role of government?" This question emerges along three fundamental dimensions in relation to environmental protection, which...

The Information Economy produces a host of new injuries to personal privacy. These include damage from data mining, data spills, identity theft, the tracking of online activity, and spam. Policymakers are currently searching for a framework with which to think about the governance of these...

Recent studies find that environmental tax swaps typically exacerbate the costs of the tax system and therefore do not produce a "double dividend". We extend previous models by incorporating tax-favored consumption goods (e.g. housing, medical care). The efficiency gains from recycling...

Most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, yet most experts are dissatisfied with existing environmental regulations, which are both inefficient and inequitable. Worse, many don't serve environmental goals. This article outlines an alternative approach to environmental policy based on...

This paper provides an economic perspective of environmental law and policy with regard to both normative and positive dimensions. It begins with an examination of the central problem in environmental regulation: the tendency of pollution generators in an unconstrained market economy to...

Recent research shows that the annual average concentration and winter average concentration of PM2.5 in Chinese cities have exhibited a convergence trend since 2013. However, the urban air situation in China remains far from ideal. For an authoritative government, vertical environmental...