Overview
My research focuses on evaluating environmental policies and improving methods and techniques for conducting these evaluations. While the field of policy evaluation is a broad one, my specific niche is in bringing rigorous quantitative methods to evaluate environmental policy innovations along four dimensions. (1) Evaluating the effectiveness of environmental policies and programs. This line of research uses statistical analysis to estimate the extent to which environmental policies such as information disclosure and management-based regulations actually improve corporate environmental performance, change household behavior, or improve individual environmental health indicators. (2) Evaluating strategic behavioral responses to non-traditional regulatory regimes. Environmental policies create incentives and in responding to these incentives, regulated entities sometimes behave strategically in ways that undermine program effectiveness. This line of research seeks to illuminate these strategic behavioral responses and quantify the magnitude of their impact. (3) Assessing the distributional impacts of these new regulatory regimes. My research in this area evaluates whether innovations in regulatory policy result in uneven distribution of environmental impacts on lower income or minority communities. (4) Evaluating the role of program evaluation in environmental policy. My research identifies the barriers to and facilitators of increased use of evaluation in environmental policy.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy
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2023 - Present
Environmental Sciences and Policy,
Nicholas School of the Environment
Interim Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment
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2023 - Present
Nicholas School of the Environment
Associate Professor in the Department of Economics
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2013 - Present
Economics,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
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2013 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
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2017 - Present
Duke Science & Society,
University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
Recent Publications
Robert N. Stavins (1948–)
Chapter · January 1, 2024 Robert N. Stavins is a leading environmental economist whose research and policy engagement have shaped a generation of environmental policies. His work has been critical to the development and widespread use of market-based approaches to environmental pro ... Full text CiteDoes Information Disclosure Reduce Drinking Water Violations in the United States?
Journal Article Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists · May 1, 2023 The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments required community water systems to disclose violations of drinking water standards to their customers in annual water quality reports. We explore the impact of three methods of disclosure on health-based drinkin ... Full text CiteEnergy Justice, Decarbonization, and the Clean Energy Transformation
Journal Article Annual Review of Resource Economics · January 1, 2022 Addressing climate change will require significant reductions in carbon emissions. Decarbonization will likely lead to increases in energy prices, which are regressive. Poorer households spend a higher percentage of income on energy and also have less acce ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Sanford School of Public Policy
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Duke Endowment · 2020 - 2025Measuring the Effects of Hypoxia on the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · 2009 - 2014Collaborative Research: The Impacts of the "Right to Know": Information Disclosure and Drinking Water Quality
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2007 - 2010View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Harvard University ·
2002
Ph.D.
Yale University ·
1996
M.A.