Cost-benefit analysis (“CBA”) is widely used in agency decisionmaking, summarizing the impacts of an agency's chosen policy. As agency rulemakings have increased in quantity and importance, there has been renewed interest in improving transparency in decisionmaking, especially with respect...

Cost-benefit analysis (“CBA”) has faced significant opposition during most of its tenure as an influential agency decisionmaking tool. As advancements have been made in CBA practice, especially in more complete monetization of relevant effects, CBA has been gaining acceptance as an essential...

The profitability of extracting oil and gas trapped within the nation's extensive shale formations has generated a boom in the oil-and-gas industry. Operators are pushing to drill close to populations and sensitive resources, and many states are facilitating such extensive drilling with laws...

Across the United States, local governments and states have adopted measures to restrict shale development that uses high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling (collectively, fracking) within their borders, hindering a national energy policy that relies on continued access to...

Governments and private landowners have collected royalties on mineral resources for centuries. When comprehensive measures to account for the environmental externalities of mineral extraction are politically or practically unavailable, federal and state governments might consider adjusting...

Debates about the desirability of widespread shale development have highlighted outstanding uncertainty about its health, safety, and environmental impacts—most prominently, its water-contamination risks—and the ability of current institutions to deal with these impacts. States, the primary...

Thirty-seven states have been involved in at least one of the lawsuits challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas regulations. By constructing a dataset of potential influences on state involvement, I empirically test states’ motivations to enter the litigation as...

Governments throughout the world are requiring greater use of economic analysis as a way of informing key policy decisions. The European Union now requires that an impact assessment be done for all major policy initiatives. An evaluation of the EU system could provide lessons for the U.S. and...