Letter from Jennifer Rowe to Assistant Dean Robert J. Reilly

Letter from Principal Private Secretary Jennifer Rowe of the Lord Chancellor\u27s Department (1990-1993) to Assistant Dean Robert J. Reilly of Fordham University School of Law regarding The Advocate: Should He Speak or Write? by Lord Chancellor James Mackay of Great Britain (1987-1997).https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/events_programs_sonnett_miscellaneous/1007/thumbnail.jp

Marginal Abatement Costs and Marginal Welfare Costs for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions: Results from the EPPA Model

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/).Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves, relationships between tons of emissions abated and the CO2 (or GHG) price, have been widely used as pedagogic devices to illustrate simple economic concepts such as the benefits of emissions trading. They have also been used to produce reduced form models to examine situations where solving the more complex model underlying the MAC is difficult. Some important issues arise in such applications: (1) are MAC relationships independent of what happens in other regions? (2) are MACs stable through time regardless of what policies have been implemented in the past?, and (3) can one approximate welfare costs from them? This paper explores the basic characteristics of MAC and marginal welfare cost (MWC) curves, deriving them using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model. We find that, depending on the method used to construct them, MACs are affected by policies abroad. They are also dependent on policies in place in the past and depend on whether they are CO2-only or include all GHGs. Further, we find that MACs are, in general, not closely related to MWCs and therefore should not be used to derive estimates of welfare change. It would be a great convenience if a reduced-form response of a more complex model could be used to reliably conduct empirical analysis of climate change policy, but it appears that, at least as commonly constructed, MACs may be unreliable in replicating results of the parent model when used to simulate GHG policies. This is especially true if the policy simulations differ from the conditions under which the MACs were simulated. Care is needed to derive MACs under conditions closely related to the policy under consideration. In such a circumstance they may provide approximate estimates of CO2 or GHG prices for a given policy constraint. They remain a convenient way to visualize responses to a range of abatement levels.Development of the EPPA model used here is in part supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Industry and Foundation Sponsors of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

Human Rights and Cultural Heritage: Protecting Museum Professionals During Armed Conflict

The purpose of this thesis is to address the issue of protecting museum professionals in areas of armed conflict. Recent conflicts have increased public awareness of cultural heritage sites in danger. Organizations such as UNESCO condemned the destruction of Palmyra and the desecration of the Mosul Museum. Despite the public outrage, there is little consideration given to professionals who work at these institutions and who care for the collections. Examining the historical accounts of museum professionals in conflict zones provides the context to the suggestions made in this text. Possible solutions and methods proposed throughout the text include the expansion of legislation and implementation of programs for professionals in need. Additionally, the museum community can consider other professions and how they provide for peers in areas of armed conflict. This thesis also considers the broader shift in the museum community. The museum is no longer just a repository for art and artifacts. Museums serve a local and international community, transcending cultures and welcoming diverse voices. An extension of service to the community is service to international museum professionals. Although armed conflict is unpredictable, it is important to discuss the needs of colleagues in these locations. Having resources and programs in place to protect the employees of a museum will ensure cultural heritage in these volatile places will be cared for in times of both conflict and peace

Human Rights and Cultural Heritage: Protecting Museum Professionals During Armed Conflict

The purpose of this thesis is to address the issue of protecting museum professionals in areas of armed conflict. Recent conflicts have increased public awareness of cultural heritage sites in danger. Organizations such as UNESCO condemned the destruction of Palmyra and the desecration of the Mosul Museum. Despite the public outrage, there is little consideration given to professionals who work at these institutions and who care for the collections. Examining the historical accounts of museum professionals in conflict zones provides the context to the suggestions made in this text. Possible solutions and methods proposed throughout the text include the expansion of legislation and implementation of programs for professionals in need. Additionally, the museum community can consider other professions and how they provide for peers in areas of armed conflict. This thesis also considers the broader shift in the museum community. The museum is no longer just a repository for art and artifacts. Museums serve a local and international community, transcending cultures and welcoming diverse voices. An extension of service to the community is service to international museum professionals. Although armed conflict is unpredictable, it is important to discuss the needs of colleagues in these locations. Having resources and programs in place to protect the employees of a museum will ensure cultural heritage in these volatile places will be cared for in times of both conflict and peace

Electricity Investments under Technology Cost Uncertainty and Stochastic Technological Learning

Given that electricity generation investments are expected to operate for 40 or more years, the decisions we make today can have long-term impacts on the electricity system and the ability and cost of meeting long-term environmental goals. This research investigates socially optimal near-term electricity investment decisions under uncertainty in future technology costs and policy by formulating a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the U.S. as a two-stage stochastic dynamic program. The unique feature of the study is a stochastic formulation of technological learning. Most studies that include technological learning utilize deterministic learning curves in which a given amount of investment, production or capacity leads to a given cost reduction. In a stochastic framework, investment in a technology in the current period depends on uncertain learning that will result and lower future costs of the technology. Results under stochastic technological learning suggest that additional near-term investment relative to what is optimal under no learning can be justified at technological learning rates as low as 10–15%, and at the 20–25% rates commonly found in literature for advanced non-carbon technologies, significant additional near-term investment can be justified. We also find it can be socially optimal to invest more in non-carbon technology when the rate of learning is uncertain compared to the case where the learning rate is certain. Increasing marginal costs produce an asymmetric loss function that under uncertainty leads to more near-term non-carbon investment in attempt to avoid the situation of high non-carbon costs and an external economic environment that creates high demand for non-carbon technology.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this work provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science under grants DE-SC0003906 and DE-FG02-94ER61937; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under grant XA-83600001-1; and other government, industry, and foundation sponsors of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

Combining a Renewable Portfolio Standard with a Cap-and-Trade Policy: A General Equilibrium Analysis

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/)Many efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions combine a cap-and-trade system with other measures such as a renewable portfolio standard. In this paper we use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, to investigate the effects of combining these policies. We find that adding an RPS requiring 20 percent renewables by 2020 to a cap that reduces emissions by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 increases the net present value welfare cost of meeting such a cap by 25 percent over the life of the policy, while reducing the CO2-equivalent price by about 20 percent each year.This study received support from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is funded by a consortium of government, industry and foundation sponsors

Marginal Abatement Costs and Marginal Welfare Costs for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions: Results from the EPPA Model

Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves, relationships between tonnes of emissions abated and the CO[subscript 2] (or greenhouse gas (GHG)) price, have been widely used as pedagogic devices to illustrate simple economic concepts such as the benefits of emissions trading. They have also been used to produce reduced-form models to examine situations where solving the more complex model underlying the MAC is difficult. Some important issues arise in such applications: (1) Are MAC relationships independent of what happens in other regions?, (2) are MACs stable through time regardless of what policies have been implemented in the past?, and (3) can one approximate welfare costs from MACs? This paper explores the basic characteristics of MAC and marginal welfare cost (MWC) curves, deriving them using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model. We find that, depending on the method used to construct them, MACs are affected by policies abroad. They are also dependent on policies in place in the past and depend on whether they are CO[subscript 2]-only or include all GHGs. Further, we find that MACs are, in general, not closely related to MWCs and therefore should not be used to derive estimates of welfare change. We also show that, as commonly constructed, MACs may be unreliable in replicating results of the parent model when used to simulate GHG policies. This is especially true if the policy simulations differ from the conditions under which the MACs were simulated