Event Summary
In July, the Kennedy School of Government hosted a well-attended "Workshop on Market-Based Instruments for Environmental Protection," sponsored by the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, the Kennedy School, and the Harvard University Committee on the Environment.
The conference on economic incentives for protecting the environment was chaired by Robert N. Stavins, Faculty Chair of the Belfer Center''s Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP). ENRP is the center of Harvard University''s research, teaching, and outreach on public policy that affects environmental quality and natural resource management.
The international workshop provided an opportunity for scholars and practitioners to engage in a series of sessions that reflected the scope and depth of this active and important area of research and policy activity.
Both normative and positive analyses of the full range of market-based environmental policy instruments were considered, including retrospective assessments of previous and current use of market-based instruments and prospective investigations of potential new applications.
Sessions included panels with papers and discussants, featured presentations by leading scholars, and policy-oriented roundtables. Among the topics addressed were: tax and charge systems; tradable permit systems; motor-vehicle emissions; and new applications of market-based instruments.
Stavins noted that there was a great demand for spots at the conference -- evidence of the high degree of interest in the topic. He said, "Last fall, when we issued the call for abstracts for the workshop, we received 140 submissions, from which just fourteen had to be selected . . . We had a full house of 175 participants -- many others who wanted to register could not."
The papers presented at the workshop and a full list of participants can be found at http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/ ENRP.nsf/wkshp/Home.