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Are Passenger Vehicles Positional Goods?
Consumer Welfare Implications of More Stringent CAFE Standards
Are Passenger Vehicles Positional Goods? examines to what degree vehicles generate consumption externalities that are not currently corrected for by the market, and whether a
uniform downward shift in the size of the passenger vehicle fleet will actually result in reduced consumer welfare. -
The Rebound Effect in a More Fuel Efficient Transportation Sector
Vehicle fuel efficiency improvements through Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, may lead owners of more fuel-efficient cars may be driving more as their fuel cost per mile travelled decreases. It’s called the “rebound effect” and it has significant policy implications.
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The Energy Paradox and the Future of Fuel Economy Regulation
Are the benefits of raising the fuel efficiency of America’s auto fleet greater than the costs? The answer may depend on whether or not there is an energy paradox.
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Patience is a(n Economic) Virtue
Real Options, Natural Resources, and Offshore Oil
Consideration of real options is necessary to maximize economic return from non-renewable natural resource extraction. But ecisions over drilling are often framed as a now-or-never choice, so the option to wait (or “real option” value) is improperly treated in administrative processes that determine whether, when, and how offshore oil resources will be tapped.
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Balanced Justice
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Criminal Justice Policy
Crime and justice are not usually associated with cost-benefit analysis. But they should be, according to new research. This is especially true in an economic downturn, when government funding is scarce. In “Balanced Justice,” released jointly with the Center for the Administration of Criminal Law, author Jennifer Rosenberg reviews a growing body of research showing that counting the costs and benefits of our nation’s justice system can highlight areas of improvement that can save billions of taxpayer dollars without compromising public safety.
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Internet Benefits
Consumer Surplus and Net Neutrality
This policy brief describes how a weakening of the principle of network neutrality might impact the Web. Based on an analysis of Internet usage, it finds that Internet infrastructure and content work together to generate huge economic benefits for consumers—possibly as much as $5,686 per user, per year.
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Does Process Matter
Regulatory Procedure and Regulatory Output in the States
Rulemaking in the states has become much more widespread than it was when many state legislatures began to pass their administrative procedures acts more than 40 years ago. A wide diversity of rulemaking procedures presents a natural laboratory in which to study several questions that have long interested scholars of the regulatory process. This paper finds that the level of rulemaking is more closely correlated to the lawmaking activity in the state rather than proceduralization which suggests no disrespect for the law, as Churchill argued, but rather that the lawmakers themselves have given rise to the thousands of regulations in the states.
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Can Cost-Benefit Analysis of Environmental Policy Go Global?
The use of cost-benefit analysis of environmental policy is spreading from the United States, where it has the longest tradition, to other parts of the globe. This paper discusses the challenges posed for cost-benefit analysis as it spreads, and how it can evolve to meet those challenges.
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Prevailing Academic View on Compliance Flexibility under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act
EPA will soon propose performance standards under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act for greenhouse gas pollution. Many argue that to be effective and efficient, the standards should incorporate compliance flexibility. This repport finds widespread agreement in the academic community that § 111 authorizes the use of many types of flexible approaches.
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Valuing the Clean Air Act
How Do We Know How Much Clean Air is Worth?
EPA recently released a study evaluating the costs and benefits of amendments to the Clean Air Act between 1990 and 2020 to see what cleaner air means for human health and the economy. Holladay’s analysis of EPA’s numbers shows that they’re based on sound science.
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