RFF Transportation and Urban Land

Improving Fuel Economy in Heavy-Duty Vehicles

New Vehicle Characteristics and the Cost of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standard

Policy Monitor: U.S. Experience with Transferable Development Rights

Zoning on the Urban Fringe: Results from a New Approach to Modeling Land and Housing Markets

Policy Monitor: U.S. Experience with Transferable Development Rights

Evaluating ?Cash-for-Clunkers": Program Effects on Auto Sales and the Environment

Toward a New National Energy Policy

Will Natural Gas Vehicles Be in Our Future?

Reforming the Tax System to Promote Environmental Objectives: An Application to Mauritius

Geographically Prioritizing Appropriations for the Sustainable Landscapes Program

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!

Is There an Energy Paradox in Fuel Economy? A Note on the Role of Consumer Heterogeneity and Sorting Bias

Are Energy Efficiency Standards Justified?

Video Now Available: The Road Ahead for CAFE

While CAFE standards changed very little over the past 20 years, they will tighten substantially over the next decade. Watch RFF?s panel of experts discuss what lies ahead for fuel efficiency standards in the United States.

Toward a New National Energy Policy: Assessing the Options

Alternative Models of Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Site Demand

The Effects of Transport Regulations on the Oil Market: Does Market Power Matter?

Market power can influence the outcome of transport regulations, according to the authors of a new RFF discussion paper.

The Effects of Transport Regulation on the Oil Market: Does Market Power Matter?

Urban Energy Transition and Technology Adoption: The Case of Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia

When Fuel Taxes No Longer Get the Job Done: The future of transportation finance

Should Hybrid Vehicles Be Subsidized?

Can Infill Development Stonewall Sprawl?

Building up existing urban areas is a cornerstone of modern ?smart growth? policies, but it has proven more difficult to implement than proponents envisioned.

Do Market Failures Justify Tightening Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards?

Are Consumers or Fuel Economy Policies Efficient?

Overhauling Auto Pollution Programs

Requiring permits to drive on high-ozone days could significantly curb vehicle pollution, according to new research by Senior Fellow Maureen Cropper and colleagues.

Infill Development: Perspectives and Evidence from Economics and Planning

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.

Issues of the Day

Issues of the Day provides an easy way for students, academics, journalists, policymakers, and the public to learn about a diverse range of policy issues affecting the environment, energy, transportation, and public health. Each commentary gives a short assessment of a topic, summarizing in a non-technical way the current state of analysis or evidence on the issue, along with selected recommendations for further reading. The essays are written by world renowned scholars, mostly economists, and provide useful insights on policy problems that are often complex and poorly understood. Some of the topics covered include air pollution, hazardous waste, voluntary environmental programs, domestic (U.S.) and global climate policy design, fishery management, water quality, endangered species, forest fires, oil security, solar power, road and airport, fuel taxes and fuel economy standards, alternative fuel vehicles, health and longevity, smoking, malaria, tuberculosis, and the environment and development. The objective is to disseminate the findings of sound, objective research on the costs, benefits, and appropriate reform of public policies. The book provides a useful supplement for undergraduate- and graduate-level course reading, a reference guide for professionals, and a way for the general reader to quickly develop an informed perspective on the most important policy problems of the day.

RFF Press is now an imprint of Earthscan. Click here to buy this book.

Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program

The Price of Gasoline and New Vehicle Fuel Economy: Evidence from Monthly Sales Data

The Poverty Demography Trap in Third World Countries: Empirical Evidence from Tanzania

Attitudes Toward Uncertainty Among the Poor: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

Does Relative Position Matter in Poor Societies?: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Rural Ethiopia

Paying the Price of Sweetening Your Donation: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment

The Case for Higher Fuel Taxes

Increasing taxes on gasoline and diesel to more than $1 a gallon would produce multiple benefits, according to a new paper by Ian Parry.

How Much Should Highway Fuels Be Taxed?

Event: The Role of Prizes in Innovation

Experts from research, government, and academia shared their views on science prizes and how they might contribute to solving environmental challenges. Video and audio available.

Price Breaks and Priuses

Government tax incentives helped drive U.S. sales of hybrid cars, but with the credits due to expire in 2010, RFF Fellow Shanjun Li asks whether they still make sense.

Fuel Tax Incidence in Developing Countries: The Case Of Costa Rica

Fuel Tax Incidence in Developing Countries: The Case of Costa Rica

Traffic Safety and Vehicle Choice: Quantifying the Effects of the ?Arms Race? on American Roads

How Do Gasoline Prices Affect Fleet Fuel Economy?

Gasoline Prices, Government Support, and the Demand for Hybrid Vehicles

Traffic Safety and Vehicle Choice: Quantifying the Effects of the "Arms Race" on American Roads

Lose Some, Save Some: Obesity, Automobile Demand, and Gasoline Consumption in the U.S.

Roads to Participatory Planning: Integrating Cognitive Mapping and GIS for Transport Prioritization in Rural Lesotho

Gender and GIS: Mapping the Links between Spatial Exclusion, Transport Access, and the Millennium Development Goals in Lesotho, Ethiopia, and Ghana

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.

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.

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.

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.

Reflections on Three Decades of Energy Policy

Adapting to Climate Change: The Public Policy Response

The Political Economy of Environmental Justice

Poor people and minorities are more likely to live in neighborhoods at greater risk of environmental hazards. In a May 25 commentary, Spencer Banzhaf discusses public policy intervention on the grounds of environmental justice.

Let?s Turn CAFE Regulation on Its Head

Pricing Urban Congestion

Impacts of Land Certification on Tenure Security, Investment, and Land Markets: Evidence from Ethiopia

Lot Size, Zoning, and Household Preferences: Impediments to Smart Growth?

Where Things Stand with Hazardous Waste Regulation

In this week's commentary, Sarah Stafford discusses the current state of hazardous waste regulation.

A Symmetric Safety Valve

RFF scholars find that a cap-and-trade policy that includes a both a price floor and ceiling has significant advantages over a single-side ?safety valve? approach that features only a cap.

Is ISO 14001 a Gateway to More Advanced Voluntary Action? A Case for Green Supply Chain Management

Unintended Impacts of Multiple Instruments on Technology Adoption

Growing Complexities: A Cross-Sector Review of U.S. Biofuels Policies and Their Interactions

Has the Time Come for Truck-Only Toll Lanes?

In this week?s RFF Policy Commentary, Robin Lindsey assesses the benefits and challenges of creating truck-only toll lanes.

Market Arbitrage: European and North American Natural Gas Prices

Easing Clogged Traffic: Weighing the Options

In a paper assessing ways to break the logjam on urban roads across the nation, RFF Senior Fellow Ian Parry suggests that peak-hour congestion fees on cars and trucks could provide multiple benefits ? including shorter commuting times.

Obama Counters Bush on Auto Standards

Ian Parry comments on the merit of higher fuel efficiency standards versus a higher gas tax and his recent study is summarized.

McConnell on Marketplace

In a commentary aired December 15 on American Public Media?s Marketplace Radio, Senior Fellow Virginia McConnell?

suggests that raising taxes on gasoline would spur automakers to build greener cars ? and motivate potential buyers. ?Recently passed fuel economy standards are a step in the right direction, but high gas prices are essential. They provide incentives to manufacturers to produce the new generation of vehicles, and for consumers to buy them,? she said. ?The recent run-up in oil prices showed us what a powerful force the market can be in influencing purchase decisions and spurring innovation.?

Suburbia's Not Dead Yet

A 2004 RFF study on telecommuting is referenced in this article.

Finding Policies that Work Best to Ease 'Social Cost' of Driving

In a new paper, RFF researchers evaluate a range of policies aimed at reducing traffic congestion, based on how well they address the full menu of societal damages from driving.

Finding the Right Drivers for Cleaner Cars: Controlling Automobile Air Pollution

Senior Fellows Virginia McConnell and Winston Harrington have chosen 26 articles that outline the most pressing economic issues in automobile pollution: including trends in vehicle use, the complex nature of regulation and the externalities of driving.

Congestion Research Highlighted in Washington Post

The July 22 issue of the Washington Post features RFF research on congestion fees in Washington, DC, and provides assessments of economic and commuter impact.

Modeling Growth for the Nation's Capital: A Work in Transit

This workshop introduces LUSTRE, an integrated model that simulates land use, transportation, and economic activity in the Washington, DC area.

Roads, Cars, and Dollars: Economic and Policy Issues in National Initiatives to Manage Traffic Congestion

The March 1st Wednesday Seminar panel discusses the state of research, policy, and politics surrounding congestion pricing in urban areas throughout the United States

Budgeting for Metro: A better approach

RFF researcher Elena Safirova comments in the Washington Business Journal about the potential unintended and unpleasant consequences of proposed Metro fare hikes.

What Drives Telecommuting?

RFF researchers Margaret Walls, Elena Safirova and Yi Jiang find significant differences between individuals who telecommute and those who do not.

Assessing China's Economic, Energy, and Resource Environment

This RFF Council briefing assesses the state of progress of the world's largest nation and analyzes its impact on the global economy.

Smart Growth at 10

Abstracts are due Oct. 30th for this conference on the 10-year anniversary of Maryland's Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation Initiative. The event is co-sponsored by RFF and the University of Maryland's Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.

Flying in the Face of Uncertainty

Senior Fellow Molly Macauley reflects on the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

What Do Developers Want?

A recent study on private investment in contaminated property by Fellow Kris Wernstedt, Peter B. Meyer of the University of Louisville, and Anna Alberini of the University of Maryland suggests that private developers place a very high value on relief from third party liability.

The Value of Open Space

RFF Scholars Virginia McConnell and Margaret Walls review ways to estimate the monetary value to community households of urban parks, wetlands, farms, and forests, based on surveys and property value studies.

Awarding Prizes for Space Innovation

Senior Fellow Molly Macauley examines the payoffs from prizes given for scientific advances--and assesses their feasibility for progress in space exploration.

Turning up the Heat on Traffic Gridlock

Provisions for HOT lanes in the current transportation bill are a welcome step in the right direction. But RFF Researchers Ian Parry and Elena Safirova suggest that lawmakers should do more to encourage road pricing at the local level.

Curbing Traffic Deaths in Developing Nations

Research Assistant Elizabeth Kopits and University Fellow Maureen Cropper contribute significantly to a new WHO/World Bank Report.

Transforming Our Perception of Fuel Economy: from MPG to Gallons per 100 Miles

Senior Fellow Carolyn Fischer makes the case for switching the nation?s fuel economy metric from miles per gallon to gallons per 100 miles in a new Issue Brief, arguing there is much to be gained from abandoning miles per gallon, including making CAFE credit trading simpler.