HOME / SEARCH /

Search

Search results

    Stavins, Robert N. “Correlated Uncertainty and Policy Instrument Choice.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 30 (1996): 218–232. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    correlated_uncertainty_jeem.pdf

    For two decades, environmental economists have generally maintained that benefit uncertainty is irrelevant for choosing between price and quantity instruments, but that cost uncertainty matters, with the identity of the efficient instrument depending upon the relative slopes of the marginal benefit and cost functions. But, in the presence of simultaneous, correlated uncertainty, such policy instrument recommendations may be inappropriate. With plausible values of relevant parameters, the conventional identification of a price instrument will be reversed, to favor instead a quantity instrument. The opposite reversal—from the choice of a quantity instrument to a price instrument—seems less likely to occur.

    A-18

    Newell, Richard G, and Robert N Stavins. “Cost Heterogeneity and the Potential Savings from Market-Based Policies.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 23 (2003): 43–59. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    jregecon_cost_heterogeneity.pdf

    Policy makers and analysts are often faced with situations where it is unclear whether market-based instruments hold real promise of reducing costs, relative to conventional uniform standards. We develop analytic expressions that can be employed with modest amounts of information to estimate the potential cost savings associated with market-based policies, with an application to the environmental policy realm. These simple formulae can identify instruments that merit more detailed investigation. We illustrate the use of these results with an application to nitrogen oxides control by electric utilities in the United States.

    A-34

    Stavins, Robert N, and Bradley W Whitehead. “Dealing with Pollution: Market-Based Incentives for Environmental Protection.” Environment 34 (1992): 7–11, 29–42. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    dealing_with_pollution.pdf

    A quest for innovative environmental policy instruments and a need for policies that harness rather than obstruct market forces has led to "pollution reduction credits" outlined in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Incentives and management of various pollutants are discussed.

    A-7

    Goulder, Lawrence H, and Robert N Stavins. “Discounting: An eye on the future.” Nature 419 (2002): 673–674. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    an_eye_on_the_future_nature.pdf

    Nature is the international weekly journal of science: a magazine style journal that publishes full-length research papers in all disciplines of science, as well as News and Views, reviews, news, features, commentaries, web focuses and more, covering all branches of science and how science impacts upon all aspects of society and life.

    A-32

    Jaffe, Adam B, and Robert N Stavins. “Energy-Efficiency Investments and Public Policy.” The Energy Journal 15 (1994): 43–65. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    energy_efficiency_investments.pdf

    Concern about carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas has focused renewed attention on energy conservation because fossil fuel combustion is a major source of CO₂ emissions. Since it is generally acknowledged that energy use could be significantly reduced through broader adoption of existing technologies, policy makers need to know how effective various policy instruments might be in accelerating the diffusion of these technologies. We examine the factors that determine the rate of diffusion, focusing on (i) potential market failures: information problems, principal-agent slippage, and unobserved costs, and (ii) explanations that do not represent market failures: private information costs, high discount rates, and heterogeneity among potential adopters. Through a series of simulations we explore how alternative policy instruments—both economic incentives and more conventional, direct regulations—could hasten the diffusion of energy-conserving technologies.

    A-12

    Jaffe, Adam B, Richard G Newell, and Robert N Stavins. “Environmental Policy and Technological Change.” Environmental and Resource Economics 22 (2002): 41–70. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    ere_paper_2002.pdf

    The relationship between technological changeand environmental policy has receivedincreasing attention from scholars and policymakers alike over the past ten years. This ispartly because the environmental impacts ofsocial activity are significantly affected bytechnological change, and partly becauseenvironmental policy interventions themselvescreate new constraints and incentives thataffect the process of technologicaldevelopments. Our central purpose in thisarticle is to provide environmental economistswith a useful guide to research ontechnological change and the analytical toolsthat can be used to explore further theinteraction between technology and theenvironment. In Part 1 of the article, weprovide an overview of analytical frameworksfor investigating the economics oftechnological change, highlighting key issuesfor the researcher. In Part 2, we turn ourattention to theoretical analysis of theeffects of environmental policy ontechnological change, and in Part 3, we focuson issues related to the empirical analysis oftechnology innovation and diffusion. Finally,we conclude in Part 4 with some additionalsuggestions for research.

    A-31

Pages