LOS ANGELES – Environmental economists from Harvard, Yale, and other leading research institutions say an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal that would eventually allow more mercury pollution from power plants relies on a cost-benefit analysis that is fatally flawed. In a new report, the economists detail how the EPA’s calculations inappropriately fail to consider how...
Doug Gavel As we approach the 50th anniversary of the passage of the U.S. Clean Air Act, one of the most consequential environmental laws ever passed by Congress, today’s polarized politics in Washington seemingly precludes (?) the possibility of any similar bipartisan legislation anytime soon. In a new essay published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Harvard Kennedy School Professor...
HEEP Pre-Doctoral Fellow Patrick Behrer discusses his research – and his background – in a feature article in the Harvard Gazettehere (November 1, 2019). Patrick studies the impact of climate change – specifically, increasing numbers of very hot days – on worker productivity. He focuses...
By Doug Gavel One of the world’s most prominent climate change economists isn’t backing away from his guarded optimism about the future. Lord Nicholas Stern, the I.G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics, told hundreds who gathered at the Geological Lecture Hall...
By Doug Gavel: CAMBRIDGE MA – With negotiators from more than 100 countries preparing to gather in Madrid, Spain for the 25th annual international climate conference in December, attention is focusing on how to build consensus for the accurate accounting of emission reductions. So-called “double counting,” which occurs when two or more parties claim credit for the same emission reductions, could undermine the integrity of the historic...
The Harvard Environmental Economics Program (HEEP) hosted a workshop on September 19 – 20, 2019 for current and former Pre-Doctoral Fellows, featuring 25 research presentations and three professional-development panels. Forty-five current fellows and alumni participated.