Resources for the Future Podcast: Recent Episodes
Resources for the Future
RFF hosts a weekly podcast called Resources Radio. Check it out at https://soundcloud.com/resourcesradio
RFF’s Daniel Raimi gives a balanced and accessible view of oil and gas development, drawing on both scholarly literature and his travels to every major oil- and gas-producing region in the United States
RFF Fellow Casey Wichman discusses recent research with Nathan Chan on how warm weather days affect outdoor recreation. The study employed a dataset of 27 million bike-share trips within 16 North American cities.
RFF Senior Fellow Roger Cooke discusses the "confidence trap" and how it distorts the debate about how to respond to the threat of climate change.
RFF Fellow Benjamin Leard brings us up to speed on the current state of self-driving car technology and discusses his recent research into how much of a premium consumers are willing to pay for autonomous vehicles.
In this new podcast, Alan J. Krupnick, RFF senior fellow and co-director of RFF’s Center for Energy and Climate Economics, discusses President Trump’s new executive order on energy independence and what it may mean for economic growth.
In this new podcast, RFF Senior Fellow Allen Blackman sits down to talk about the granting of titles to indigenous communities in Latin American countries to take over the control of their local forests.
In this podcast, RFF Senior Fellow Virginia McConnell discusses the interplay between state and federal policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.
In this podcast, RFF Fellow Yusuke Kuwayama talks about his research on water scarcity using data collected from satellites.
RFF Fellow Carolyn Kousky discusses how the federal government can better target its expenditures to prevent damages from floods. Ironically, most federal prevention money currently flows to communities in the wake of a flood, well after the damage has been done.
At this First Wednesday Seminar, Tom Lawler of the International Emissions Trading Association highlighted the benefits of emissions trading programs, and Jerry Taylor of the Niskanen Center presented the case for a carbon tax. Both participated in a broader panel discussion on the interplay between carbon pricing and regulatory measures.
Author Ruth DeFries joins RFF and a panel of experts to discuss the advantages and limits of humanity’s innovations as they relate to the use and conservation of natural resources.
RFF researchers and a panel of experts discuss a new RFF model that demonstrates the importance of the economy-wide employment impacts of environmental regulation.
RFF, the Embassy of Sweden, and Mistra Indigo host experts to discuss climate change policies and varying national commitments in preparation for the 2015 United Nations climate change conference in December.
RFF hosts the US release of the China 2050 High Renewable Energy Penetration Scenario and Roadmap Study and an expert panel discussion of China's long-term renewable energy plans.
RFF and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment co-host a panel of experts to examine current and future strategies for offshore oil and gas leasing reform in the US Arctic.
RFF researchers host a panel of experts to discuss California’s landmark AB 32 cap-and-trade program as well as the current and future direction of the state’s climate policy.
RFF and the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment co-host a panel of experts to discuss two new climate engineering reports and their political and economic implications.
Experts from RFF and the US State Department discuss a new method for analyzing global emissions reduction plans in preparation for the UN climate agreement conference in December.
RFF researchers host a panel of experts to discuss the potential effects of climate change on the global food supply and what the US and other countries are doing to address the challenge.
RFF researchers present findings from an assessment of six cap-and-trade pilot programs in China, and a panel of experts discusses the future prospects of nationalizing carbon pricing across the Chinese economy.
Nobel Laureate Mario Molina talks with RFF’s Phil Sharp and AAAS’s Alan Leshner about how the nation should prepare for the risks posed by a changing climate.
Conservation experts explore the innovations that allow humankind to produce more from natural resources while consuming less and the implications of “decoupling” conservation from consumption.
Research experts and state regulators explore challenges to implementing EPA’s carbon emissions rule and how these challenges might differ by region.
RFF President Phil Sharp and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy discuss the economics of critical environmental issues facing the nation.
The authors of the independent risk assessment for the Risky Business Project present their methods and findings. A panel of experts offers additional perspectives.
A panel of experts discusses EPA's proposed emissions rule and the challenges and opportunities that its implementation might bring.
Panelists explore how climate change and globalization are influencing the future of insurance for disaster events.
A panel of experts explores declining population growth, its effects on natural resources and ecological systems, and the role of markets and policy interventions.
Chris Crane, President and CEO of energy provider Exelon, sits down with RFF President Phil Sharp to discuss the massive shifts affecting the energy industry and how they will shape the economy in years to come.
A panel of experts explores how lessons learned from the ecological restoration of the Gulf of Mexico may apply to oil and gas development in the Arctic and off the Atlantic Coast.
RFF Visiting Fellow Mun Ho recently sat down with to discuss China’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
A distinguished panel discusses new research on the benefits and costs of shale gas development as experienced by local communities at this RFF seminar.
2003 Nobel Laureate in Economics Robert Engle says that a long-term climate policy like a carbon tax could provide an immediate boost to the stock market.
At this March 11 seminar, RFF University Fellow Jon Krosnick presented additional results from a joint poll conducted by RFF, Stanford University, and USA Today on Americans' attitudes on climate change, clean energy, power plant emissions, and more.
At this RFF First Wednesday Seminar, co-sponsored by Resources for the Future (RFF) and the Society of American Foresters (SAF), an expert panel delved into some of the questions that surround carbon accounting and forest management.
RFF Darius Gaskins Senior Fellow Dallas Burtraw sat down with to discuss how to allocate the potentially very large revenues that a cap-and-trade or carbon tax program would generate.
Panelists at RFF’s December First Wednesday Seminar looked at the challenges facing the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) and suggested paths for improving the effectiveness of ESA implementation going forward.
This First Wednesday Seminar share key findings from a new paper, “Cheaper Fuels for the Light-Duty Fleet: Opportunities and Barriers, examines the potential economic, environmental, and national security gains from replacing a portion of the gasoline used in the domestic light-duty fleet with various natural gas-based fuels.
Two significant agency reports were released in the past year evaluating US water supplies moving forward and the potential of both growth patterns and climatic changes to increase the risk of water shortages. Panelists at this event discuss these findings and explore the potential for economic mechanisms (water pricing, trading, and ecosystem service valuation, for example) to help reduce future gaps between supply and demand.
In an interview for the Resources 2013 digital issue, RFF Associate Research Director Juha Siikamäki discusses preserving blue carbon coastal areas “via a REDD-like framework.”
on June 27, researchers from RFF's Center for Energy Economics and Policy presented findings from a multi-faceted initiative, "Managing the Risks of Shale Gas Development."
At a recent seminar, RFF researchers presented results from a new model designed to analyze the economic, distributional, and environmental impacts of a federal carbon tax for current and future generations across the country.
Recently, new initiatives for science-based uncertainty quantification have been launched, revealing mounting concern for ice sheet instability. Panelists at RFF's June First Wednesday Seminar characterized the state of the science, methods for quantifying uncertainty, and the potential consequences of abrupt sea level rise.
On May 22, RFF hosted an RFF Policy Leadership Forum featuring Yves-François Blanchet, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks for Quebec, who discussed linking the carbon market in Quebec with that of California.
When are innovation and ingenuity likely to help solve ecological problems? On May 6, Resources for the Future and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) convened an expert panel to address this question and more during the joint seminar "Responding to Ecological Loss: The Promise and Limits of Ingenuity."
RFF resident scholar and managing editor of Common Resources Nathan Richardson talked with RFF Center for Climate and Electricity Policy Fellow Anthony Paul about the mechanics, costs, benefits, and viability of a federal clean energy standard (CES).
Resources for the Future’s Center for Climate and Electricity Policy and the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund convened a panel of leading economic experts in fiscal and environmental policy to discuss the role a carbon tax might play in coming debates about how to reform the US tax code.
The revolution in agricultural biotechnology has led to many changes, including the widespread use of corn, cotton, and soybeans that are genetically modified to resist herbicides; regulatory approval of rice fortified with vitamin A and virus-resistant papayas; and the development of drought-resistant wheat. Panelists at this seminar will analyze how concerns over labeling of food from GM animals may affect the marketing, development, and economic viability of such innovative products.
How do we shape our perceptions and understanding of environmental issues? Panelists offer perspectives from several vantage points: environmental reporting, local community engagement, and crowdsourcing in iSeeChange, a recent major public media project; the conceptual underpinnings of cognition and media framing as understood from the lens of political science; and broader challenges in linking public policy, natural and social science, cognition, and belief to advance collective action and governance.
RFF concluded its 60th anniversary distinguished lecture series with this event featuring Thomas C. Schelling, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences.
Over the past 60 years, environmental economists have pioneered the idea of market-based approaches to solving environmental problems. Regulators have implemented market-based programs for air pollution, water pollution, land management, and other environmental policy problems at local, state, federal, and—in the case of greenhouse gas regulation—international levels. Panelists at this seminar discussed what we can learn from successful and unsuccessful applications of market-based policy and its desirability, feasibility, and design in the future.
Former deputy secretary of the US Department of the Interior Lynn Scarlett, who currently serves as an RFF visiting scholar and co-director of RFF’s Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth, sat down with Resources to discuss emerging watershed governance models for multi-jurisdictional water systems.
At November's First Wednesday Seminar, RFF convened an expert panel to discuss the future of of five key fuels — oil, coal, natural gas, renewables, and nuclear — over the next decade.
RFF hosted a special with Kenneth J. Arrow, 1972 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences. The lecture marks the second in a series of three lectures by Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences celebrating RFF’s 60th anniversary.
RFF hosted a special event with Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, as part of RFF’s 60th anniversary celebration: Resources 2020, a yearlong exploration of how economic inquiry can address future environmental and natural resource challenges.
Does modern biotechnology have a role to play in forest health? Are there situations for which genetic modification should be considered to protect US forests? At this seminar, panelists from the Institute of Forest Biotechnology, the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and the US Forest Service considered forests and the Forest Health Initiative (FHI), as it seeks to determine whether biotechnology could be used to address forest health issues related to climate change, insects, and diseases.
Concerns have been raised in the popular press and elsewhere that an influx of speculators drove the price of oil to unprecedented heights in 2008, and that it may now be happening again. Although futures markets play an important role in our economy, do we need more safeguards to prevent financial traders from manipulating prices? Panelists from Resources from the Future, Syracuse University, American University, and ClearView Energy Partners reviewed the claims and counterclaims, presented evidence gleaned from ongoing research, and discussed the still-to-be completed process of reform that was mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010.
At this First Wednesday Seminar, panelists explored what “green infrastructure” means and described how to evaluate the costs and benefits of land-use options for reducing flood damages. They also discussed the challenges of convincing stakeholders that natural systems can provide infrastructure services and complement public projects.
During this RFF First Wednesday Seminar, panelists from Resources for the Future, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service examine recent efforts to quantify the impacts of invasive species on the Great Lakes ecosystem, discuss cost-efficient strategies to manage new and established invaders, and explore how cross-jurisdictional spread of invasive species hinders management.
The IPCC (2006) has supported the view that wood biomass is “carbon neutral” in that its use for bioenergy has zero net carbon emissions since the emissions released in its utilization for energy are subsequently captured in forest regrowth. This generally accepted view, however, has recently come under increasing criticism from various sources.
RFF Senior Fellow Richard Morgenstern sat down to discuss the impact of government regulation on employment. An edited version of his conversation appears in Resources Magazine, no. 179, available at www.rff.org/resources.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may soon propose Clean Air Act rules regulating the largest class of greenhouse gas emitters: coal-fired power plants. With climate policy off the congressional agenda, these and other rules under the act have taken center stage in the formulation of U.S. policy for limiting carbon emissions. But what will the rules for coal plants look like? Research at RFF and elsewhere over the past year has aimed to both understand what EPA may do and provide input into the agency’s decisionmaking process. This RFF First Wednesday seminar presented some of the results of this research, along with a broader discussion of the Clean Air Act as a pathway for climate policy.
This year RFF’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP) launched an initiative to identify the priority risks associated with shale gas development and recommend strategies for responsible development. The research team will survey expert opinion and public perceptions to determine the most significant risks and the behaviors of industry and regulators that influence those risks. Pairing these findings with analysis of existing state and federal policies and voluntary industry actions will lead to recommendations for how to improve the management of shale gas development.
International buyers of forest products know the importance of identifying sustainable and legal sources—they also know this is challenging in today’s complex global markets. Around the world, private and public procurement policies are focusing on ways to eliminate illegal fiber from supply chains. This includes a shift from voluntary to mandatory government regulations, such as the amended Lacey Act in the United States and the European Union Timber Regulation. At this RFF First Wednesday seminar, panelists looked at the impacts of this critical international issue, the changing regulatory regime, and some of the tools available to help buyers avoid illegal forest products. They explored the role of third-party forest certification in forest trade and previewed the Forest Legality Alliance’s new risk information tool.
In recent years, observers have speculated that the American public has become increasingly skeptical about the existence and potential threat of climate change and that the public desire for action by government on this issue has declined. Stanford University’s Jon Krosnick presented new survey evidence tracking public opinion in the nation to explore what changes have occurred across the population and in population subgroups. In addition, Krosnick presented the results of a new study examining whether candidates' positions on climate change policy have influenced their electoral success.
Many energy experts and policymakers puzzle over the so-called "energy efficiency gap," or "energy paradox"—the fact that homeowners and businesses fail to undertake investments that appear to more than pay for themselves in future energy savings. At this RFF First Wednesday seminar, four panelists discussed the role that financing can play in improving the energy efficiency of buildings. They addressed opportunities for private financing of energy efficiency investments and analyzed barriers that exist in private markets. They also described recent government loan programs and credit enhancements, many established with federal government stimulus funds, and evaluated their performance to date. Additionally, speakers offered their insights on the importance of financing as a tool for closing the energy efficiency gap.
The recently completed first Census of Marine Life was a cooperative international effort to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life. At this RFF seminar, program co-founder Jesse H. Ausubel offered the most comprehensive and authoritative answer yet to one of humanity's most ancient questions—“what lives in the sea?”
In a new RFF podcast, Weathervane Managing Editor Lynann Butkiewicz interviews RFF Resident Scholar Nathan Richardson about a letter that he wrote with RFF Senior Fellow Dallas Burtraw and lawyers from Columbia University and NYU to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson about flexible standards when regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
In the Netherlands, water management is a daily activity. Without dikes and coastal dunes, close to two-thirds of the country would be under water. Building on centuries of water management, the Netherlands has recently adopted a policy of "Room for the Rivers" as part of a new Delta Programme to improve flood risk management in the face of a changing climate. What have the Dutch learned from their long history in managing water and their new flood policies? Can their experience offer any lessons for the United States?
In a new RFF podcast, Center Fellow Harrison Fell discusses the future of the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme, the emergence of China's carbon market and the potential of a national carbon market in the U.S. with Weathervane Managing Editor Lynann Butkiewicz.
In a new RFF podcast, Center Fellow Daniel Morris discusses policy recommendations on climate change adaptation in the U.S. with Weathervane Managing Editor Lynann Butkiewicz.
Speakers: Phil Sharp, Stewart Elgie, Mark Cohen, Michael Porter, Dan Esty, Chad Holliday
Speakers: Winston Harrington, Roberton C. Williams III, Joshua Linn, Ian W.H. Parry, Ichiro Sakai
Speakers: Phil Sharp, Tony Knowles, Alan Krupnick, Jason Grumet, Brad Carson, Kenneth Small, Virginia McConnell, Ian Parry
Speakers: Ray Kopp, Howard Kunreuther, John Antle, Kerry Smith, Terry Dinan, William Hohenstein, Catherine Allen, Molly Macauley, Jim Neumann, Dan Farber, Marc Landy, Roger Cooke, Jim Titus, Lawrence Friedl, Rob Verchick, Jason Bordoff, Dick Morgenstern, Jim Sanchirico, Alan Covich, Jonathan Samet, Bill Travis, Mark Nechodom, Mike Shapiro, Carol Couch, Charles Rossmann and Tom Armstrong.
Speakers: Phil Sharp, Roberton Williams, III, Scott Farrow, Sheila Olmstead, and Julie Hewitt
Speakers: Matthew C. Banks, Mark A. Cohen, Kert Davies, Thomas P. Lyon, Heather Quinley
Speakers: Ramanan Laxminarayan, Anup Malani, Phil Polgreen, Martin Meltzer, Maureen Cropper
Paul Portney of the University of Arizona discusses "Benefit-Cost Analysis and Common Sense: Friends or Foes?".
Panelists discuss "Do We Know What We Prefer? Implications of Behavioral Economics for Research on Preferences".