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60 Years of Investing in Ideas

Resources for the Future conducts rigorous economic research and objective analysis to help leaders craft smarter policies about natural resources, energy, and the environment.

Policy Brief
NFIP Premiums for Single-Family Residential Properties: Today and Tomorrow
Dec 15, 2016 | Carolyn Kousky, Brett Lingle, Leonard A. Shabman | 12 pp.
In order to make the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) more financially stable, Congress has passed legislation to adjust pricing practices. Our brief assesses NFIP rate setting and presents premiums for examples of single-family properties.

Risk and Uncertainty

Journal Article
EPA’s New Source Review Program: Time for Reform?
Jan 9, 2017 | Arthur G. Fraas, John D. Graham, Jeff Holmstead | pp. 10026-10040
This article proposes reforms for the new source review program under the Clean Air Act, which provides important health and environmental benefits but has become a significant impediment to the growth and modernization of the US manufacturing sector.

Air Quality
Policy Brief
Energy Policy and a Trump Administration
Nov 30, 2016 | Alan J. Krupnick | 12 pp.
This brief examines the stated intentions of President-elect Trump’s campaign and transition team regarding energy policy, the potential roadblocks to their realization, and what the administration could reasonably and quickly turn into a reality.

Energy and Electricity

RFF is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that conducts independent research - rooted primarily in economics and other social sciences - on environmental, energy, natural resources, and environmental health issues.

Explore our research

Blog Post
Clarifying the Role of Behavioral Economics in Improving Policy Design
Jan 24, 2017 | Andrew Royal
Understanding behavioral economics—a process of discovering how decision environments interact with human psychology to produce economic choices—is crucial for designing policies to improve both market outcomes and human well-being.

Environmental Economics Topics
Blog Post
Takeaways from Rick Perry's Confirmation Hearing for Secretary of Energy
Jan 19, 2017 | Alan J. Krupnick, Isabel Echarte
Irony abounded at former Governor Rick Perry’s hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee today.

Energy and Electricity
Blog Post
How Pruitt’s Hearing Illuminated His View of His Role as EPA Administrator
Jan 19, 2017 | Alan J. Krupnick
Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt was interviewed by the Senate Environmental and Public Works committee yesterday. He heard a litany of EPA sins and complaints from Republicans and a litany of fears about how he would behave if he became Administrator from the Democrats.

Energy and Electricity

Past Seminar
Disasters, Resilience, and the "Cure" for Catastrophe
Nov 28, 2016 Video
At this RFF event, Robert Muir-Wood, chief research officer of Risk Management Solutions and author of The Cure for Catastrophe: How We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters, explored the human causes of disaster and the new technologies and policy tools available to minimize their impact

Risk and Uncertainty
Past Webinar
Optimal Siting of Shale Gas and Oil Development
Nov 15, 2016 Video
This was the third event in a joint RFF/Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment/Stanford Natural Gas Initiative webinar series on New Research on the Science and Economics of Natural Gas.

Energy and Electricity
Past Seminar
Policy Surveillance and Transparency: Evaluating the Comparability of National Mitigation Efforts
Nov 15, 2016
This event will be held in Marrakech, Morocco as part of the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference 22nd yearly session of the Conference of Parties (COP22).

Climate Change