The environmental impact of human activity does not often not factor into the prices of goods and services we buy. But it can impose measurable costs. Our articles explore the economic rationale for government intervention in environmental policy; the costs and benefits of environmental regulation; energy policy; the financial and economic issues raised by climate-related disasters; and equity issues related to the environment.
May 2, 2018
Five years after Hurricane Sandy, housing prices in New York City’s flood zone were 8 percent lower than similar properties in areas with lower flooding risks.
August 15, 2017
A large share of U.S. renewable energy consumption comes from biomass, an energy source that involves burning organic material and releases carbon dioxide.
April 11, 2017
Taxing energy intensive imports and exempting some U.S. export goods from carbon taxes could level the playing field with competitors from countries that don’t have a carbon tax.
March 14, 2017
Regulations are not universally good or bad—they’re tools and their impact can be beneficial or deleterious depending on how they are used.
February 10, 2017
Senior Republican officials have proposed a simple fix that cuts through the Gordian knot of government policy: a carbon tax with revenues rebated as carbon dividends to all Americans on an equal per capita basis.
January 26, 2017
The major source of the recent decline in demand for coal is the fall in natural gas prices due to the “fracking revolution”—technological advances that have reduced the price of gas extraction.