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    Stavins, Robert. “A Model of English Demographic Changes: 1573–1873.” Explorations in Economic History 25 (1988): 98–116. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    a_model_of_english.pdf

    This paper documents an analysis of English demographic change over the period 1573–1873. A simultaneous equations model is developed in order to test four alternative demographic theories—the constant equilibrium wage theory, the constant fertility theory, Lee's original (1973) synthesis theory, and a new, composite theory. Each is a special case of a general demographic model which provides both for exogenous technological change and for endogenous migration behavior. Two-stage least-squares estimation yields parameter estimates and test statistics, which provide evidence of the superiority of the composite theory of demographic change. By statistically affirming the composite theory of demographic change, this paper confirms that the mortality level played a dominant role in English demographic change during the preindustrial period. The analysis also provides support, however, for the classical notion that shifts in the labor demand function were a dominant cause of long-run population changes, subsequent to the beginning of British industrialization.

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    Jaffe, Adam B, Richard G Newell, and Robert N Stavins. “A Tale of Two Market Failures: Technology and Environmental Policy.” Technological Change and the Environment Technological Change 54 (2005): 164–174. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    jns_ecological_economics.pdf

    Market failures associated with environmental pollution interact with market failures associated with the innovation and diffusion of new technologies. These combined market failures provide a strong rationale for a portfolio of public policies that foster emissions reduction as well as the development and adoption of environmentally beneficial technology. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that the rate and direction of technological advance is influenced by market and regulatory incentives, and can be cost-effectively harnessed through the use of economic-incentive based policy. In the presence of weak or nonexistent environmental policies, investments in the development and diffusion of new environmentally beneficial technologies are very likely to be less than would be socially desirable. Positive knowledge and adoption spillovers and information problems can further weaken innovation incentives. While environmental technology policy is fraught with difficulties, a long-term view suggests a strategy of experimenting with policy approaches and systematically evaluating their success.

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    Stavins, Robert N. “Addressing Climate Change with a Comprehensive Us Cap-and-Trade System.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy 24 (2008): 298 –321. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    stavins_article_on_us_cap-and-trade_for_oxford_review.pdf

    There is growing impetus for a domestic US climate policy that can provide meaningful reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. I describe and analyse an up-stream, economy-wide CO2 cap-and-trade system which implements a gradual trajectory of emissions reductions (with inclusion over time of non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and includes mechanisms to reduce cost uncertainty. Initially, half of the allowances are allocated through auction and half through free distribution, with the share being auctioned gradually increasing to 100 per cent over 25 years. The system provides for linkage with emission-reduction credit projects in other countries, harmonization over time with effective cap-and-trade systems in other countries and regions, and appropriate linkage with actions taken in other countries, in order to establish a level playing field among domestically produced and imported products.

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    Stavins, Robert N. “Alternative Renewable Resource Strategies: A Simulation of Optimal Use.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 19 (1990): 143–159. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    alternative_renewable_resource.pdf

    The depletion of forested wetlands is a pressing environmental concern, but has wetland depletion and conversion to agricultural cropland been excessive? A dynamic analysis of resource exploitation in the presence of environmental consequences is required. The structure and parameters of a model of socially optimal wetland use are found to bear a well-defined relationship to those which emerge from a private-market model of wetland exploitation, providing a basis for internalizing environmental externalities and for identifying optimal resource-exploitation strategies. Empirical analysis focuses on the area of severest wetland losses in the United States, the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Plain.

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    Fowlie, Meredith, Lawrence Goulder, Matthew Kotchen, Severin Borenstein, James Bushnell, Lucas Davis, Michael Greenstone, et al. “An Economic Perspective on the EPA's Clean Power Plan.” Science 346 (2014): 815–816. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    science-2014-fowlie.pdf

    In June, the Obama Administration unveiled its proposal for a Clean Power Plan, which it estimates would reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing U.S. power plants 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 (see the chart). Power plant emissions have declined substantially since 2005, so the plan is seeking reductions of about 18% from current levels. Electricity generation accounts for about 40% of U.S. CO2 emissions.

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    Stavins, Robert N. “An Unambiguous Consequence of the Durban Climate Talks.” Review of Environment, Energy, and Economics (2012): 1-4. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    stavins_rev_env_energy_econ_march_2012.pdf

    One of the major outcomes of the Durban Climate Conference in 2011 was the 'Durban Platform for Enhanced Action' - a non-binding agreement to forge a new treaty by 2015 that will bring all countries under the same legal regime by 2020. This article will explain why the 'Durban Platform for Enhanced Action' has opened an important window in climate talks.

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    Carraro, Carlo, Charles D Kolstad, and Robert N Stavins. “Assessment and Communication of the Social Science of Climate Change: Bridging Research and Policy” (2015). Publisher's VersionAbstract
    carraro_kolstad_stavins_feem_ipcc_1.pdf

    On February 18-20, 2015, twenty-four experts gathered in Berlin to explore approaches to improving the process by which research on climate change is assessed – with a focus on the social-sciences (economics, political science, policy studies). The workshop was sponsored by the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, and the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center. Leaders of three of the sponsoring organizations, Carlo Carraro (FEEM), Charles Kolstad (Stanford University), and Robert Stavins (Harvard Kennedy School), have prepared a memorandum drawing from the workshop. The memo describes the specific challenges and opportunities facing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and provides recommendations for improving the IPCC's process of assessing scientific research on climate change.

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