A graph of environmental degradation versus income often has an inverted-U shape. Some policy analysts hypothesize that there is a causal relationship between income and environmental degradation, yielding this shape and suggesting that the solution to environmental problems is to alleviate...

This paper examines the optimality of regulatory delegation when neither output levels nor effort levels are contractible. The key trade-off is that while the federal government is able to internalize externalities, the state governments have preferences that are better aligned with local...

This paper uses data on world oil price and consumption to calibrate a Hotelling model of optimal resource extraction with unlimited potential reserves when costs exhibit stock effects. Numerical solutions are generated for various specifications of the elasticity of demand for both isoelastic...

This paper examines the optimality of environmental regulatory delegation when neither output levels nor effort levels are contractible. The key trade-off is that while the federal government is able to internalize externalities, the state governments have preferences that are better aligned...

Ethanol has attracted considerable policy attention both for its use as a gasoline substitute, and as a way to enhance profits in rural areas. In this paper, we analyze the effects of government policy on the decisions of ethanol-producing firms to invest in building new ethanol plants in the...