Recent political developments and academic debate indicate that future political commitment to the protection of natural resources is uncertain. This political uncertainty is particularly problematic when the danger of irreversible damage such as the extinction of species looms. Accordingly,...

I examine the risk/return tradeoff for environmental investments, and its implications for policy choice. Consider a policy to reduce carbon emissions. To what extent does the value of such a policy depend on the expected future damages from global warming versus uncertainty over those damages,...

Die vorliegende Studie geht der heiklen Frage nach, ob und wie der Nutzen einer öffentlichen Maßnahme gemessen werden kann, die ein Umweltrisiko vermindert. Dazu werden in einer wohlfahrtstheoretischen Analyse testbare Hypothesen über die Wertschätzung einer solchen Maßnahme abgeleitet. Mit...

I examine the risk/return tradeoff for environmental investments, and its implications for policy choice. Consider a policy to reduce carbon emissions. To what extent does the value of such a policy depend on the expected future damages from global warming versus uncertainty over those damages,...