In this paper we develop a cost index-based measure of the expected consumer welfare gains from innovation in electricity generation technologies. To illustrate our approach, we estimate how much better off consumers would be from 2000 to 2020 as renewable energy technologies continue to be...

This paper explores the issue of whether strict liability imposed on polluters has served to reduce uncontrolled releases of toxics into the environment. To answer this question, we exploit the variation in state hazardous waste site laws across states and over time. We use data on accidents and...

The tobacco quota buyout is expected to have significant impacts on U.S. tobacco markets, farmers, tobacco-dependent communities, and public health. Using data from four surveys of a panel of North Carolina tobacco farmers conducted between 1997 and 2004, we investigate changing farmer attitudes...

We analyze factors in states' decisions to switch their approaches to hazardous waste liability policy from negligence standards to policies based on strict liability. Many, but not all, states have switched in recent years. We explain differences in the timing of states' adoption of strict...

This paper explores the issue of whether strict liability imposed on polluters has served to reduce uncontrolled releases of toxics into the environment. Strict liability should create additional incentives for firms to handle hazardous substances more carefully, thus reducing the future...

Proponents of environmental policies based on liability assert that strict liability imposed on the polluter will induce firms to handle hazardous wastes properly and to avoid disposing them into the environment. Economic theory and a few well-publicized cases, however, suggest that a number of...