Robert Stavins’s Posts

• Confusion in the Senate regarding allowance allocation 1

  Posted 1 month agoThere are sound reasons for considering allocation mechanisms other than free allocation -- for example, auctioning allowances (more about this below) -- but the distribution of those allowances that are freely allocated need not be a great source of concern.

• Cap-and-Trade versus the Alternatives for U.S. Climate Policy 1

  Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago

  Let’s credit Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) for raising questions in the National Journal about the viability of cap-and-trade versus other approaches for the United States to employ in addressing CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions linked with global climate change.

  Senator Murkowski says that only one approach – cap-and-trade – has received significant attention in the Congress.  Let’s put aside for the moment the fact that most of the 1,428 pages of H.R. 2454 – the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (otherwise known as the Waxman-Markey bill) – are not about cap-and-trade… Read More

• Too Good to be True? 0

  Posted 2 months ago

  Global climate change is a serious environmental threat, and sound public policies are needed to address it effectively and sensibly.

  There is now significant interest and activity within both the U.S. Administration and the U.S. Congress to develop a meaningful national climate policy in this country.  (If you’re interested, please see some of my previous posts:  “Opportunity for a Defining Moment” (February 6, 2009); “The Wonderful Politics of Cap-and-Trade:  A Closer Look at Waxman-Markey” (May 27, 2009); “Worried About International Competitiveness?  Another Look at the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Proposal” (June 18, 2009); Read More

• Cap-and-Trade: A Fly in the Ointment? 0

  Posted 3 months, 1 week ago

  Cap-and-trade systems, in which emission permits or allowances can be traded among potential polluters, continue today to be at the center of the action around market-based environmental policy instruments.

• Policies can work in strange ways

  Environmental regulation affects technological change 1

  Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago

  Whether the policy domain is global climate change or local hazardous waste, it’s exceptionally important to understand the interaction between public policies and technological change in order to assess the effects of laws and regulations on environmental performance.

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