Quasi-experimental and experimental approaches to environmental economics
Name
2007-013.pdf
Size
458.91 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
06042da9f75e2a1ca490adfd642088e1
Author(s)
Greenstone, Michael
Gayer, Ted
Date Issued
2007
Publisher
MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
Series/Report no.
MIT-CEEPR (Series) ; 07-013WP.
Abstract
This paper argues that an increased application of quasi-experimental and experimental techniques will improve understanding about core environmental economics questions. This argument is supported by a review of the limitations of associational evidence in assessing causal hypotheses. The paper also discusses the benefits of experiments and quasi-experiments, outlines some quasi-experimental methods, and highlights threats to their validity. It then illustrates the quasi-experimental method by assessing the validity of a quasi-experiment that aims to estimate the impact of the Endangered Species Act on property markets in North Carolina. The paper's larger argument is that greater application of experimental and quasi-experimental techniques can identify efficient policies that increase social welfare.
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