Browsing Working Papers by Title
Now showing items 258-277 of 334
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Semiparametric measurement of environmental effects
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1993)This paper gives the results of a semiparametric analysis of pollution effects on housing prices using the Boston Housing Data. The exposition introduces the basic ideas of modeling pollution impacts with hedonic price ... -
Short & long run transmission incentives for generation location
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2006)This paper is about one aspect of Britain's electricity trading system, its advantages and its weaknesses concerning the incentives it provides or fails to provide for the location of generation. (Similar considerations ... -
Short-run interfuel substitution in West European power generation : a restriced cost function approach
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1999)This paper analyzes short-run interfuel substitution between fossil fuels in West European power generation. The problem is studied within a restricted translog cost model, which is estimated by pooling time-series data ... -
Short-term CO₂ abatement in the European power sector
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2008)This paper focuses on the possibilities for short term abatement in response to a CO2 price through fuel switching in the European power sector. The model E-Simulate is used to simulate the electricity generation in Europe ... -
Short-term shocks, reversion, and long-term decision-making
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1993)Many observers claim that discounted cash-flow methods lead to a neglect of long-term and strategic decision-making. Using modern asset pricing methods, we examine one possible reason for this problem. If the cash-flows ... -
A simple auction mechanism for the optimal allocation of the commons
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2006)Efficient regulation of the commons requires information about the regulated firms that is rarely available to regulators (e.g., cost of pollution abatement). Different mechanisms have been proposed for inducing firms to ... -
The SO2 Allowance Trading System: The Ironic History of a Grand Policy Experiment
(MIT CEEPR, 2012-08)Two decades have passed Two decades have passed since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 launched a grand experiment in market-based environmental policy: the SO2 cap-and-trade system. That system performed well but ... -
Social Norms and Energy Conservation
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2009-10)This paper evaluates a pilot program run by a company called OPOWER, previously known as Positive Energy, to mail home energy reports to residential utility consumers. The reports compare a household’s energy use to that ... -
Some Inconvenient Truths About Climate Change Policy: The Distributional Impacts of Transportation Policies
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2011-08)Instead of efficiently pricing greenhouse gases, policy makers have favored measures that implicitly or explicitly subsidize low carbon fuels. We simulate a transportation-sector cap & trade program (CAT) and three policies ... -
The sources of emission reductions : evidence from U.S. SO₂ emissions from 1985-2002
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2004)An enduring issue in environmental regulation is whether to clean up existing "old" plants or in some manner to bring in new ₃clean₄ plants to replace the old. In this paper, a unit-level data base of emissions by nearly ... -
Sources of productivity growth in the American coal industry
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1998)This paper develops new techniques to assess the expanse of the geographic market under varying supply and demand conditions and applies these techniques to the current wholesale electricity market in the western United ... -
Speculation without Oil Stockpiling as a Signature: A Dynamic Perspective
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Research Policy, 2010-04)According to the standard analysis of commodity prices, stockpiling is a necessary signature of speculation. This paper develops an approach suggesting that speculation may temporarily push crude oil prices above the level ... -
Statement of Professor Paul L. Joskow before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2002) -
Statistical issues in the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1992)Prior to his untimely death, my friend Dave Wood gave me wise counsel about how best to organize a paper describing uses of statistics in oil and gas exploration. A preliminary reconnaissance of the literature alerted me ... -
Stock prices and the cost of environmental regulation
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2006)Recent environmental regulations have used market incentives to reduce compliance costs and improve efficiency. In most cases, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selects an emissions cap using the predicted costs ... -
Stocks & Shocks: A Clarification in the Debate Over Price vs. Quantity Controls for Greenhouse Gases
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2011-03)We construct two simple examples that help to clarify the role of a key assumption in the analysis of price or quantity controls of greenhouse gases in the presence of uncertain costs. Traditionally much has been made ... -
Storage and capacity rights markets in the natural gas industry
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1999)This dissertation presents a different approach at looking at market power in capacity rights markets that goes beyond the functional aspects of capacity rights markets as access to transportation services. In particular, ... -
Subglobal Climate Agreements and Energy-Intensive Activities: Is there a Carbon Haven for Copper?
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2011-02)Subglobal climate policies induce changes in international competitiveness and favor a relocation of carbon-emitting activities. We argue that many energy-intensive activities are also capital-intensive, so that carbon ... -
Sunk costs and sunk benefits in environmental policy : I. basic theory
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 1995)The standard framework in which economists evaluate environmental policies is cost-benefit analysis, so that policy debates usually focus on expected costs and benefits, or on the choice of discount rate. But this framework ... -
Superfund Cleanups and Infant Health
(MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, 2011-02)We are the first to examine the effect of Superfund cleanups on infant health rather than focusing on proximity to a site. We study singleton births to mothers residing within 5km of a Superfund site between 1989-2003 in ...
