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...

Many firms conduct 'environmental audits' to test compliance with a complex array of environmental regulations. Commentators suggest, however, that self-auditing is not as common as it should be, because firms fear that what they find will be used against them. This article analyzes...

This Article challenges the prevailing view that state action on climate change is misconceived because it cannot meaningfully impact greenhouse gas emissions. We argue that inducing technological change provides an independent ground for state programs; one can think globally and still act...

This Article addresses puzzles relating to the allocation of grandfathering rights. First, when a government wishes to distribute grandfathering rights to societal actors who currently engage in a behavior that will soon be restricted, the societal actors may engage in inefficient behavior to...

For too long, environmental policymaking has relied on trial and error, without adequate or systematic learning from either the trials or the errors. Systematic program evaluation research has been remarkably scarce relative to the overall number of environmental policies adopted in the United...

Property rights hold a central place in our Constitutional design and provide the foundation for America's market economy. Admiration of private property has not been universal, however. Some environmental scholars and policymakers have been particularly critical of classical liberal conceptions...

This Article addresses a central battleground of the debate about the future of greenhouse gas regulations: the valuation of particulate matter reductions that accompany reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. The benefits from particulate matter reductions are substantial for climate change...

This paper presents the unique experience of participation of Latin American stakeholders in the definition of European environmental standards, in the context of the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Program for coffee. The PEF Program is an ongoing process and the results will not be...

Reasons for the joint use of ex ante regulation and ex post liability to cope with environmental accidents have been a longstanding issue in law and economics literature. This article, which includes the first empirical study of the French environmental legal system, analyzes courts’ decisions...