RFF Regulating Risks

Unnatural Disasters?

Resources Magazine: Sheila Olmstead and Carolyn Kousky explain why Mother Nature isn?t the sole cause of 2011?s billion-dollar string of disasters.

Explaining the Failure to Insure Catastrophic Risks

?Quantifying information security risks using expert judgment elicitation? Computers and Operations Research Journal , 39, (2012) 774?784.

Redistributional Effects of the National Flood Insurance Program

Testing for Avoidance of Environmental Obligations

Voluntary Environmental Agreements in Developing Countries: The Colombian Experience

Precursor Analysis for Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling: From Prescriptive to Risk-Informed Regulation

The Value of Scarce Water: Measuring the Inefficiency of Municipal Regulations

Deposit-Refund Systems in Practice and Theory

Strategic Release of News at the EPA

Policy Response to Pandemic Influenza: The Value of Collective Action

Managing Risks and Mitigating Consequences

Hurricanes: Who should pay?

Does Eco-Certification Boost Regulatory Compliance in Developing Countries? ISO 14001 in Mexico

Managing Risk through Liability, Regulation, and Innovation: Organizational Design for Spill Containment in Deepwater Drilling Operations

Paying Farmers to Flood Their Fields Makes Sense

Guest commentary: The economics of flooding

Managing Natural Catastrophe Risk: State Insurance Programs in the United States

Resources Magazine

Deepwater Drilling: Recommendations for a Safer Future

An Economist's View of the Oil Spill from Inside the White House

Instilling a Stronger Safety Culture: What are the Incentives?

Managing the Risks of Deepwater Drilling

Managing Environmental, Health, and Safety Risks: A Closer Look at how Three Federal Agencies Respond

The Next Battle: Containing Future Major Oil Spills

Managing Dependencies in Forest Offset Projects: Toward a More Complete Evaluation of Reversal Risk

Countries Explore Reality of Shuttering Nuclear Power

America?s Nuclear Future: Q&A with RFF President Phil Sharp

RFF President Phil Sharp discusses how recent events in Japan might affect the development of nuclear energy in the United States.

William K. Reilly Discusses the Path to Safe Offshore Drilling: Video

One year after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, recommendations from the Oil Spill Commission have yet to be fully implemented. In a recent speech at RFF, William K. Reilly discussed how this affects the safety and future of offshore drilling.

Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Understanding ?Fat-Tailed? Distributions and Their Policy Implications

In a new discussion paper, RFF's Roger Cooke and coauthor Daan Niebor explore "fat-tailed" phenomena, including natural disasters and crop losses, noting traditional statistical tools may not be sufficient to analyze such distributions and what they mean for policy.

Why Mississippi Floods Were Expected

Drilling Safety?s Gas Price Impact

Improving Regulatory Policy at Independent Regulatory Agencies

Presentations and selected papers are now available from the recent RFF conference "Can Greater Use of Economic Analysis Improve Regulatory Policy at Independent Regulatory Agencies?"

On the Economic Analysis of Regulations at Independent Regulatory Commissions: Would Greater Use of Economic Analysis Improve Regulatory Policy at Independent Regulatory Commissions?

Wide-Ranging Oil Spill Scenarios Complicate U.S. Containment Plans

New Containment Technologies Jump-Start Offshore Drilling but Fail to Quell Oil Spill Concerns

Raising the Game to Reduce the Risks

One year after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, RFF?s Mark Cohen explains that much still needs to be done to ensure a safer future in deepwater drilling.

Oil Forever

Fat-Tailed Distributions: Data, Diagnostics, and Dependence

Offshore Drilling: Safety and Response Technologies

Raising Oil Spill Liability Limits is Hot Topic at House Hearing

Who?s Benefiting from the National Flood Insurance Program?

New analysis from RFF looks at a quarter century of federal flood insurance data to determine whether the benefits of the program are tied to income.

The Effect of Allowing Pollution Offsets with Imperfect Enforcement

Environmental Liability and Redevelopment of Old Industrial Land

Liability Funding and Superfund Clean-Up Remedies

Midnight Dumping: Public Policies and Illegal Disposal of Used Oil

Transboundary Spillovers and Decentralization of Environmental Policies

International Spillovers and Water Quality in Rivers: Do Countries Free Ride?

Does Trade Promote Environmental Coordination? Pollution in International Rivers

Targeting Lead in Solid Waste

Taxes on Hazardous Waste: The U.S. Experience

Letting the States Do the Dirty Work: State Responsibility for Federal Environmental Regulation

The Pace of Progress at Superfund Sites: Policy Goals and Interest Group Influence

The Effect of Joint and Several Liability under Superfund on Brownfields

Legal Liability as Climate Change Policy

Incentives to Settle Under Joint and Several Liability: An Empirical Analysis of Superfund Litigation

The Cost of Reducing Municipal Solid Waste

Cross-Media Pollution: Responses to Restrictions on Chlorinated Solvent Releases

The Effects of Hazardous Waste Taxes on Waste Generation and Disposal

A Comparison of Public Policies for Lead Recycling

Economics of Hazardous Waste and Contaminated Land

Monitoring and Enforcement of Climate Policy

Implications of Globalization and Trade for Water Quality in Transboundary Rivers

Economics of Hazardous Waste

A Cross-Country Comparison of Decentralization and Environmental Protection

Offshore Oversight: How Deep Is the Regulatory Ocean?

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster called attention to the need for revamped and strengthened oversight to reduce the risk of blowouts and other catastrophes on offshore rigs. A recent RFF discussion paper provides an initial baseline assessment of current enforcement efforts.

Obama Launches BP Oil-Spill Lawsuit

Most in state found to back 'cap and trade' climate plan; REGULATION

Former RFF President Paul Portney Honored

New Look, Same Magazine!

The fundamentals haven?t changed: you?ll find short, accessible stories by RFF scholars, written without partisan bias or technical jargon. The purpose of the new design is to make it easier to find what you?re looking for as well as easier to read?the type is bigger!

Can States Allay Risks from Hurricanes and Earthquakes?

Insurance for damages from natural catastrophes provided by many states affords property owners coverage when they are unable to find it in the private market.

How Do You Put a Price on Ecological Damage from Marine Oil Pollution?

In the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, attempts will be made to put an economic value on the ecological damage caused. How will this be done, and can we do a better job than in the past?

Who Bears the Long-Term Costs of Stricter Anti-Spill Policy?

It's not who you think, according to RFF Senior Fellow Timothy Brennan. In a new policy brief, he explains that the long-term costs of ratcheting up liability for oil spills like the recent tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico will be borne not primarily by companies involved in oil exploration.

What Would Tighter Regulation on Deepwater Drilling Mean for Gas Prices?

Tightening U.S. safety standards would raise the price of a gallon of gas by less than a penny, while a total ban on deep sea drilling could raise prices by around 7 cents, according to a new RFF analysis by Stephen Brown.

A Primer on Oil Spill Liability Law

A complex landscape of damage costs, laws, and private and public interests will determine who pays, when, and how much.

RFF and the 2010 Gulf Coast Oil Spill

With oil-related energy, liability, and regulatory issues again at the forefront, RFF research on these issues provides context and insight into future implications.

A New Collection of Best Thinking on Current Issues

RFF announces an anthology of thought-provoking and insightful contributions from leading researchers in key climate, environmental, and energy fields. Issues of the Day, a reference for policy practitioners, is now available for sale or download.

Reforming the National Flood Insurance Program

RFF Fellow Carolyn Kousky proposes changes to save America's federal flood insurance system before it gets washed away in a rising tide of debt.

Event: Extreme Weather and Climate Change

A panel of experts discusses how climate change will increase the risk of extreme weather events and the role of regulators, government, and the insurance industry in responding to this challenge. Video available

Assessing Risk via Expert Elicitation

Nature magazine highlights RFF Senior Fellow Roger Cooke?s use of expert elicitation, and recommends that it be used in gauging climate change risks.

Rosina Bierbaum: The Changing Climate for Development

Watch a virtual presentation of Dr. Bierbaum's talk from last month's Hans Landsberg Lecture, in which she details the disproportionate impact of climate change on developing countries and their role in a low-carbon future.

Measuring the Costs of Air Pollution in China

Resources Magazine: China?s booming growth has also brought rapidly rising air pollution. A new study finds that reductions in pollution could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Hurricanes, Risk, and Liability: Looking to Congress for Relief

Three legislative approaches are being considered to create effective public policies to deal with catastrophic natural disasters, such as large-scale hurricanes. An op-ed in the St. Petersburg Times by Roger Cooke and Carolyn Kousky examines the merits of each.

Food Safety: Challenges to the System

Experts in regulating food safety at an RFF First Wednesday Seminar discuss recent food scares and strategies to strengthen the food safety network and protect public health.

Restructuring India?s Chaotic Water System

Taming the Anarchy, a just-published book from RFF Press and the International Water Management Institute, proposes new water policies to regulate irrigation practices across the Indian subcontinent.

New Protocols for Keeping Planes Apart

As air traffic volume continues to grow, the need for new ? and safe ? ways to merge and separate planes in flight is more important than ever. A new paper by Chauncey Starr Senior Fellow Roger Cooke assesses proposed NASA protocols.

Gaps in Aging Levees Leave DC Landmarks Exposed

Leonard Shabman comments on the failure to ensure maintenance and repair of DC levees.

Cosmic Markdown: EPA Says Life Is Worth Less

Joe Aldy discusses research involved in determining the value of statistical life

Floodproofing the Future

The best way to reduce damage from floods is to keep people out of harm's way, argues Carolyn Kousky in a recent op-ed published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Kousky, a new fellow, joined RFF in September.

Revamping Regulation

An RFF workshop bringing together government officials, economists, and legal experts launches an initiative to examine potential reforms to traditional benefit-cost analysis that would respond to concerns of critics.

RFF Scholar Considers EPA Oversight for Nanotechnology

Senior Fellow Terry Davies authors new report released by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.

Post-Katrina: Getting the Incentives and Priorities Right

Senior Fellow Kate Probst and Journalist-in-Residence J.W. Anderson argue that we need to rethink the Federal response to Katrina to make sure the right questions get asked, and the right decisions are made.

Taking Risks on the Space Frontier

In the new issue of Resources, Senior Fellow Molly Macauley explores how human risk in space activities should be approached and managed.

Sudden Catastrophic Change: Costing Out The Challenges of Preparing for the Worst

Judge Richard A. Posner, author of Overcoming Law and Catastrophe: Risk and Response, speaks at the March RFF First Wednesday Seminar.

Evaluating Domestic Climate Policy Options

Cap and trade is off the table for now but concern over U.S. GHG emissions remains. Senior Fellow Ray Kopp gives an overview of the proposals and actions that are now in play.