Whether or not the federal government should price carbon continues to be debated. There were several scholarly pieces examining the relative advantages and disadvantages of cap and trade v. a carbon tax at the time of Congressional Debate on the American Clean Energy and Security Act in 2010....

Fifty years after the rise of modern environmental law and its robust enforcement regime, there persists a disproportionate distribution of environmental burdens in the United States. Many underserved communities suffer from legacy pollution, sighting of undesirable land uses, failing...

Switzerland has undertaken a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the Swiss Federal Government and civil society were working towards achieving this target...

The United States has long suffered from a schizophrenia about energy policy. The importance of one of the factors in energy policy, the environment, has never been formally defined. Climate change adds another distinct layer to this complexity, as neither energy policies nor environmental...

As much as environmental problems manifest themselves as problems with the natural environment, environmental problems — and their solutions — are ultimately social and behavioral in nature. Just as the natural sciences provide a basis for understanding the need for environmental policy and...

This white paper starts from the recognition that the value of the regulatory system cannot be captured in a single number or metric, such as the concept of net benefits often touted by conservative economists. Instead, one must look at a more complex mosaic of evidence. When compiled and...

The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law proposes an alternative to static efficiency-based analysis and policy prescription, focusing primarily upon the environmental law example. It argues for an approach that takes change over time seriously. In particular, an economic dynamic exists that...

Although benefit assessment principles are well established for specific populations, very little attention has been paid to how to define the scope of the pertinent population for such assessments. Whose social welfare matters and whose benefits should be included in the assessment? In the case...

There are many reasons to suspect that benefit-cost analysis applied to environmental policies will result in policy decisions that will reject those environmental policies. The important question, of course, is whether those rejections are based on proper science. The present paper explores...

There are many reasons to suspect that benefit-cost analysis applied to environmental policies will result in policy decisions that will reject those environmental policies. The important question, of course, is whether those rejections are based on proper science. The present paper explores...