RFF Features

Will Global Warming Discount Rates Short-Change Our Grandkids?

Commentary: Oxford's Cameron Hepburn considers the role of ethics in calculating discount rates for global warming damages to future generations and how to reconcile differing views in the debate.

Climate Impacts on Energy Markets: An Outsider's Perspective

Planners in the public and private sectors need to be aware of not only the economic policy challenges facing energy markets, Senior Fellow Tim Brennan asserts, but also the climate policies with which they have to cope.

Testimony: Karen Palmer Testifies on Cap-and-Trade Policy

Weathervane: Appearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, RFF Senior Fellow Karen Palmer examines the effects of different approaches to compensating residential electricity consumers for the costs imposed by a climate policy.

Plugging Cap-and-Trade into California's Electricity Sector

Researchers Karen Palmer, Dallas Burtraw, and Anthony Paul address the options for regulating California?s electricity sector within the context of a statewide, and possibly regional, cap-and-trade program that also covers other sectors.

How Much Should Cigarettes Cost?

Commentary: Sijbren Cnossen looks at the economics of how governments should tax tobacco, comparing policy choices in the E.U. and U.S.

Liability in the Space Business

If a privately owned rocket falls to the ground after being launched under government auspices, who pays for the damages? The answer to that question, which will influence the development of future commercial space enterprises, is explored by RFF researchers in a new discussion paper.

Regional Household Impacts of a Price on Carbon

In a new journal article, RFF Nonresident Fellow James Sanchirico and coauthors Billy Pizer and Michael Batz estimate the financial impacts of a carbon tax on U.S. households.

A Proposal for Chilling Copenhagen?s Hot Political Climate

Commentary: Jeffrey Frankel and Valentina Bosetti propose an international architecture for global climate policy that, unlike other successors to the Kyoto Protocol, takes into account a variety of likely political constraints.

Event: The Economics of Pandemics

October's First Wednesday Seminar launched RFF's new Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy (CDDEP). Speakers covered emerging issues ranging from incentives for reporting disease outbreaks to the impacts of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Video and speaker presentations available.

Event: Sen. Alexander on the Perils of Energy Sprawl

In remarks at an October 5th Policy Leadership Forum, Senator Lamar Alexander discussed the land use costs of renewable energy production and why he believes nuclear power should play a major role in America?s energy future. Video available.

Shaping the Future of America?s Outdoor Resources

Press Release: A new RFF study delves into the status of America?s outdoor resources, the demand for recreation, and the financing of conservation, parks, and open space.

Foreign Oil: The Same Price, But More Costly

Although domestic and foreign oil looks the same to the consumer, the instability of foreign suppliers carries hidden external costs.

How House and Senate Climate Bills Compare

Weathervane: RFF has compiled a side-by-side chart showing how key economic elements in House and Senate climate and energy legislation from the 111th Congress compare.

Linking Ecological Science and Economic Preferences

In a new RFF Discussion Paper, Senior Fellows James Boyd and Alan Krupnick examine a key conceptual issue central to effective interdisciplinary collaboration between economists and ecologists.

A Prescription for Maximizing Health and Wealth

Commentary: Discussing why the value of increased life expectancy, and health improvements more generally, has been rising over time. This trend has important policy implications, such as the amount we should be investing in medical research.

Can States Regulate Without a ?Race to the Bottom??

Commentary: Widely varying regulatory costs make federal environmental regulation inefficient in some cases. Wallace Oates finds that, contrary to popular theory, giving kinds of certain environmental regulatory authority to states doesn?t result in a polluted ?race to the bottom.?

Harnessing New Electric Technologies to Curb CO2 Emissions

Analysis released at an RFF briefing by the Electric Power Research Institute?s Prism and MERGE projects suggests that diverse electricity technologies could meet the dual challenges of satisfying demand growth and constraining CO2 emissions, while also limiting increases in electricity costs. Video and audio available.

Designing Policies to Speed Technology Transfer to China

Clearing the barriers to the transfer of climate mitigation technologies means tackling difficult issues like intellectual property and tax incentives for implementation.

Assessing the Growing Dangers of Tiny Things

Resources Magazine: Nanotechnology promises big benefits, but RFF?s Terry Davies says that governments lack the oversight needed to reduce health, social, and environmental risks.

Could Uncertain Forest Inventories Hinder Carbon Markets?

Incongruities in national forest measures from across the globe could present a stumbling block for the development of international forest policy, says Paul Waggoner.

A New Approach to Reforming the National Flood Insurance Program

Commentary: Adding a federal community flood insurance option could increase coverage, spread risk, and lower premiums, says RFF resident scholar Leonard Shabman.

A Shopping List for America?s Riskiest Foods

Resources Magazine: Foodborne illness can be blamed on a surprisingly small number of foods and pathogens, according to a new study.

U.S. Land Retirement Programs Harvest Benefits

Jeffrey Ferris and Juha Siikam?ki review the history and outcomes of the Conservation Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program.

Should Congress Reinstate the Superfund Taxes?

Commentary: With funding shortfalls decreasing site cleanups, Kate Probst analyzes whether reviving Superfund?s ?polluter pays? principle makes sense.

Insuring Against Catastrophe: A Feasible Goal?

Resources Magazine: Roger Cooke and Carolyn Kousky look at the variables involved in the increasing toll of natural disasters and suggest insurance strategies, practical building measures, and public policies to deal with risks from catastrophe.

The New Economics of Managing the Nation's Waste

In an August 10 commentary, Molly Macauley and Stephen Salant discuss how regulations on shipments raise the overall costs of managing U.S. waste disposal.

Burtraw Urges Consumer Relief in Climate Legislation

In Senate testimony, RFF Senior Fellow Dallas Burtraw said Congress can ease cost disparities for U.S. regions and the overall burden on middle-class households under a cap-and-trade program with relatively small changes to proposed legislation.

Voluntary Environmental Regulation in Colombia

In a recent RFF Report, Senior Fellow Allen Blackman and his colleagues examine voluntary environmental agreements in Colombia, finding that although they have had limited environmental benefits, they have helped build capacity in environmental management.

Declining Traffic Fatalities: Lessons for Developing Countries?

In a July 27 commentary, Maureen Cropper and Elizabeth Kopits examine the phenomenon of initially rising, then peaking, then declining traffic fatality rates as countries develop over time.

Finding Climate Mitigation Technologies That Work

Designing clean-energy technology policies to "decarbonize" major economies will require both a strong pricing signal as well as removal of policy barriers that inhibit R&D. In an RFF Issue Brief, Carolyn Fischer explores the tradeoffs.

New Ideas for Risk Regulation

A two-day conference co-sponsored by RFF and the Society for Risk Analysis looked at options for improving the regulation environmental, health, safety, and security risks.

The Evolving SO2 Allowance Market: Title IV, CAIR, and Beyond

In a July 13 commentary, David Evans and Karen Palmer discuss the sulfur dioxide cap-and-trade system. While the program has been highly successful in generating substantial pollution-related health benefits at relatively low cost, the authors suggest ways to make the program still more efficient.

Ecosystems and Climate: Managing Change

The challenges facing terrestrial ecosystems in a warming climate are daunting, according to an RFF Report that explores policies and perspectives on making nature more resilient in the face of climate stress.

Adaptation to Climate Change: Preserving Freshwater

Severe drought, flooding, and other extreme weather events are inevitable in a changing climate. A new RFF Report finds this will require the introduction of regional plans to ensure adequate supplies of freshwater for household use, irrigation, fisheries, and recreation.

Threats to Health from Climate Change?

A warming world could trigger new perils to public health, but an RFF study finds that adaptation policies could mitigate many of the potential consequences ? including risks of illness from heat waves, allergic and infectious disease, and rising air pollution.

New Ways to Connect with RFF

Electronic publications, podcasts, and virtual presentations are some of the new tools we?ve added to improve your web experience.

Fighting TB with Interventions that Work

A paper in Health Affairs by Ramanan Laxminarayan and colleagues finds that using proven treatment methods against tuberculosis not only works ? but the economic benefits also outweigh the costs of implementation.

Achieving Efficient Coordination and Acceptance in Fishery Reform

In a June 29 commentary, Robert Deacon discusses how a policy of assigning fishery harvest rights to groups rather than individuals can achieve gains from coordination that other rights-based management regimes fail to capture.

Overseeing International Forest Conservation Programs

With Congress designing plans to manage international forest conservation, a key question arises?who should be in charge? In a new issue brief, RFF?s Nigel Purvis, Ray Kopp, and Andrew Stevenson offer their suggestion.

Climate Change and Infrastructure: A Volatile Mix?

An RFF Report looks at how U.S. roads, telecommunications, coasts, electrical systems, and water supplies may be affected by changes in climate and suggests ways to prepare through policy choices.

How Regressive is the Gas Tax?

In a June 22 policy commentary, Sarah West looks at the burden that gas taxes place on low-income households.

Coastal and Marine Environments: Adapting to Climate Change

A new report assesses policy options for addressing climate change impacts on marine and coastal resources. The study is part of a series on U.S. climate adaptation policy being released by RFF.

Waste Not, Want Not: Transforming the Town Dump

Effective disposal of garbage ranks among the highest concerns of local officials, their constituents, and most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court. A new paper by Molly Macauley examines the interstate conflicts that have grown as waste disposal has become an increasingly nationwide, high-tech industry.

Climate Change and U.S. Agricultural Policy

More than most sectors, agriculture will feel the impacts of climate change. A new RFF report explores the role for public policy in helping U.S. farmers and ranchers as they develop practices to counter inevitable changes in temperature, rainfall, growing seasons, and soil conditions.

Prioritizing Investments for Improved Biodiversity Conservation Outcomes

In a June 15 commentary, Juha Siikam?ki and Stephen Newbold discuss approaches to improving the cost-effectiveness of biodiversity conservation through better prioritization of conservation alternatives.

New from RFF Press: Water Policy in the Netherlands

The latest book in the Water Policy series explores integrated water resource management in a heavily populated delta region.

Zoning the Sea to Protect Marine Resources

A directive by the Obama Administration to develop a national ocean policy may revive an idea developed at RFF by Jim Sanchirico to zone the ocean to accommodate competing marine resources, such as fishing, oil and wind development, and commercial shipping.

Biofuel from Wood: Caveats to Consider

Efforts to supplement gasoline with cellulosic ethanol are analyzed by Roger Sedjo and Brent Sohngen, who warn of economic dislocations that could result under existing targets set by Congress.

The Future of Regulatory Oversight and Analysis

In a June 8 commentary, Susan Dudley and Art Fraas discuss the role of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in providing independent assessments of the benefits and costs of agency rulemakings.

Utilizing Geomapping Technologies

An RFF seminar showcases satellite images of Earth coupled with spatial data that is providing new insights into environmental trends ? from climate change to public health to ecosystem management.