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Thirty Years of Economics at the Environmental Protection Agency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Al McGartland
Al McGartland*
Affiliation:
National Center for Environmental Economics at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
*
Correspondence: Al McGartland ▪ EPA National Center for Environmental Economics ▪ 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW ▪ Washington, DC 20469 ▪ Phone 202.566.2244 ▪ Email[email protected].
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Abstract

When the modern era of environmental policy began with creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, economists and economics were little used. Over time, economics became a major contributor to formation of environmental policy. Executive Order 12291 pushed economics into the policy process but also rendered benefit-cost analysis controversial. I report on economics’ role in the policy process over time and examine contributions by economists to environmental policymaking. Advancing benefit-cost analysis is an obvious contribution. I describe other areas in which economists have contributed and highlight milestones for economics at EPA.

Keywords

benefit-cost analysisEPAeconomics at EPAExecutive Order 12291history of environmental economics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , December 2013 , pp. 436 - 452
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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