Rand Corp. / by John A. Romley, Andrew Hackbarth and Dana P. Goldman http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR777.html Air pollution is harmful to human health, but little is known about the costs of pollution-related health care. If such care imposes a significant burden on insurance companies and employers, they would have substantial stakes in improving air quality. Reduced medical … Continue reading »
Posted on December 6, 2010 …
Three Essays in Transportation Energy and Environmental Policy
Rand Corp. / by Sara Hajiamiri http://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD261.html Concerns about climate change, dependence on oil, and unstable gasoline prices have led to significant efforts by policymakers to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and oil consumption. Within the transportation sector, light-duty vehicles (LDVs) are responsible for more than 65 percent of oil consumption and more than 60 … Continue reading »
Managing New Orleans Flood Risk in an Uncertain Future Using Non-Structural Risk Mitigation
Rand Corp. / by Jordan R. Fischbach http://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD262.html This dissertation addresses one of New Orleans’ most critical challenges: how to make the city more resilient and less vulnerable to future flood damages. The author considers proposals to augment the existing protection system with “nonstructural” risk mitigation programs focused on single-family homes, including incentives for elevating … Continue reading »
Making Policy in the Shadow of the Future
Rand Corp. / by Gregory F. Treverton http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP298.html The National Intelligence Council’s (NIC’s) 2008 report Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World projects what the world will look like in 2025 based on recent trends. However, as an intelligence organization, the NIC limits its report to describing the impacts of future trends on the United States … Continue reading »
Residential Insurance on the U.S. Gulf Coast in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina A Framework for Evaluating Potential Reforms
Rand Corp. / by James W. Macdonald, Lloyd Dixon and Laura Zakaras http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP284.html The hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 brought devastating losses of life and property; they also threw the residential insurance market in the Gulf States into turmoil. Insurance premiums skyrocketed, a number of private insurers retreated from coastal regions, government insurance programs … Continue reading »
Earthquake Insurance and Disaster Assistance The Effect of Catastrophe Obligation Guarantees on Federal Disaster-Assistance Expenditures in California
Rand Corp. / by Tom LaTourrette, James N. Dertouzos, Christina Steiner and Noreen Clancy http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR896.html In an effort to increase the availability and affordability of insurance for catastrophic events, the Catastrophe Obligation Guarantee Act was introduced in Congress in 2009. One of the arguments in support of this provision is that it lowers insurer costs, … Continue reading »
Policy Implications of Alternative Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Strategies
Testimony by Tom LaTourrette presented before the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future on November 15, 2010 via the Rand Corp. http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/CT352.html If nuclear power is to be sustainable and accepted by the public, the nation must implement a strategy for managing spent-nuclear fuel that meets safety, security, and environmental standards. There is a … Continue reading »
Managing Spent Nuclear Fuel: Strategy Alternatives and Policy Implications
Rand Corp. / by Tom LaTourrette, Thomas Light, Debra Knopman and James T. Bartis http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG970.html Increasing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has renewed interest in nuclear power generation. At the same time, the longstanding logjam over how to manage spent nuclear fuel continues to hamper the expansion of nuclear power. If … Continue reading »
Confronting Space Debris: Strategies and Warnings from Comparable Examples Including Deepwater Horizon
Rand Corp. / by Dave Baiocchi http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1042.html Orbital debris represents a growing threat to the operation of man-made systems in space. There are currently hundreds of thousands of debris objects greater than one centimeter in diameter in Earth’s orbit, and the collision of any one of these objects with an operational satellite would cause catastrophic … Continue reading »
An Assessment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Performance Track Program
Rand Corp. / by Scott Hassell, Noreen Clancy, Nicholas Burger, Christopher Nelson, Rena Rudavsky and Sarah Olmstead http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR732.html This report addresses the conceptual basis of the National Environmental Performance Track program, a voluntary program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 2000 and 2009; its program design; and its implementation. Performance Track sought to … Continue reading »
