Regulating Risks

Twenty-first century environmental challenges provide an opportunity to re-examine traditional regulatory issues like environmental performance and cost, as well as to address often overlooked concerns, such as procedural fairness, environmental justice, and distributional questions. Resources for the Future seeks to improve regulatory outcomes by evaluating the performance of environmental regulations and programs, comparing alternative regulatory approaches, and refining analytical techniques for regulatory analysis. RFF scholars employ a diverse set of approaches to these issues, including risk and uncertainty analysis, policy analysis, and economic tools like cost-benefit analysis.

FEATURES

What the Experts Say about the Environmental Risks of Shale Gas Development

A new RFF report highlights a high degree of consensus among experts from government, industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations about the key risks associated with shale gas production and development.

Does Speculation Drive Oil Prices?

Resources magazine: Research on the forces behind the 2004–2008 dramatic spike in oil price challenges the common perception that excessive speculation in the futures market is to blame.

View All Features

PUBLICATIONS

Strategically Placing Green Infrastructure: Cost-Effective Land Conservation in the Floodplain

Kousky, C., S. M. Olmstead, M. A. Walls, and M. Macauley

Environmental Science & Technology | DOI: 10.1021/es303938c

How Should Benefits and Costs Be Discounted in an Intergenerational Context?

Maureen L. Cropper

RFF Discussion Paper 12-42 | October 2012

Regulating an Experience Good in Developing Countries when Consumers Cannot Identify Producers

Timothy McQuade, Stephen W. Salant, Jason Winfree

RFF Discussion Paper 10-52-REV | September 2012

The SO2 Allowance Trading System: The Ironic History of a Grand Policy Experiment