About the Author
Robert N. Stavins is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, and Chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Group.
Important Links
Personal Website
Harvard Environmental Economics Program
Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
Category Archives: Natural Resource Economics
What’s in a Name? Wine, Economics, and Terroir
Today, I’m pleased to offer a temporary respite from analysis of climate change policy (and other environmental policies, for that matter), while remaining well within the general province of environmental and natural resource economics. I do this through a merger … Continue reading
Posted in Natural Resource Economics, Wine Economics
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Reflecting on a Century of Progress and Problems
As the first decade of the twenty-first century comes to a close, the problem of the commons is more important to our lives – and more central to economics – than a century ago when the first issue of the … Continue reading
Unintended Consequences of Government Policies: The Depletion of America’s Wetlands
Private land-use decisions can be affected dramatically by public investments in highways, waterways, flood control, or other infrastructure. The large movement of jobs from central cities to suburbs in the postwar United States and the ongoing destruction of Amazon rain … Continue reading
Using Markets to Make Fisheries Sustainable
Around the world, over-fishing is leading to severe depletion of valuable fisheries. This is as true in U.S. coastal waters as it is in many other parts of the world. In New England waters, for example, after two decades of … Continue reading
Misconceptions About Water Pricing
Throughout the United States, water management has been approached primarily as an engineering problem, rather than an economic one. Water supply managers are reluctant to use price increases as water conservation tools, instead relying on non-price demand management techniques, such … Continue reading
As Reservoirs Fall, Prices Should Rise
Last week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and warned of possible mandatory water rationing as the state struggled through its third consecutive year of drought. This well-intentioned response to the latest water crisis should not come … Continue reading
An Economic View of the Environment 