Climate Change and Real Estate: How Environmental Risks and Policies Impact Markets

Climate change could worsen environmental conditions that affect real estate values, such as extreme weather events and coastal erosion. But policies to prevent climate change can also affect real estate values, for example through higher energy prices and land use regulation. This lecture will examine the linkages between the climate change risks, climate policy, and real estate markets. We will also discuss the likely regional economic effects of recent proposed climate legislation

EPA\u27s Proposed Greenhouse Gas Regulation for Power Plants: How does it Work and what will it mean for Nevada?

In June, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed important new limits on carbon dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants. The new regulation is the centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s climate policy. If the controversial rule is finalized as planned next year, it will cover about a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. This lecture will explain the legal, environmental, and economic issues posed by the rule and highlight the important role for states in implementing it. The lecture will also review the implications and options for achieving the emissions target the EPA set for Nevada

Climate Change Economics 101

Outline of Talk:- Climate change is a market failure- Climate and energy facts- Economically efficient policy design- Economics of Domestic Legislatio

Do Gasoline Prices Affect Residential Property Values?

This paper estimates the effect of gasoline prices on home values and explores the degree to which the relationship varies across a city. Using data from 930,702 home sales in Clark County, Nevada, from 1976 through 2010, we find that gasoline prices have significantly different effects on the sales price of homes in different neighborhoods. A ten percent increase in gasoline prices is associated with changes in location-specific average home values that span a range of over $13,000. This suggests that energy policies may affect household housing wealth via gasoline prices, a heretofore unrecognized distributional outcome

The U.S. Tax System: Where Do We Go From Here?

This talk will explore how the U.S. tax system really works, where revenue comes from, where spending goes, what a tax expenditure is, and discuss deficit prognoses and how the recent political debates could affect our economy. The speaker will highlight some advantages and disadvantages of different budget balancing options

Could a State-Level Carbon Tax Work in the Intermountain West?

With the U.S. federal government stuck in partisan gridlock, attention increasingly turns to states and localities for innovative climate solutions. This talk will explore the option for Intermountain West states to tax carbon, including how they could establish a tax base, set price signals, and manage revenue. The presentation will pay special attention to the option of “swapping” a carbon tax for revenue sources that more negatively impact economic growth, such as taxes on business activity. This research will explore the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches and consider the issue of the burdens on lower income households and certain industries. In addition, the speaker will discuss how a carbon tax at the state level could impact the case for other state-level policies to promote clean energy and reduce emissions. The research presented is a collaboration with Brookings scholar Tracy Gordon and UNLV graduate student in economics, Matt Kinzer

Clean Energy: The Economics of Why and How

One rationale for large public investments in clean energy technology points to concerns that have not been addressed by other policies, most notably greenhouse gas emissions and energy security. Another inspiration for clean energy policy suggests that strategic government investments would increase domestic firms\u27 market share of a growing industry and thus help domestic firms and workers. This lecture examines the economic case for clean energy policy in the United States and addresses the issues state and local governments confront in building a clean energy industry

Policy Insights from Comparing Carbon Pricing Modeling Scenarios

Carbon pricing is an important policy tool for reducing greenhouse gas pollution. The Stanford Energy Modeling Forum exercise 32 convened eleven modeling teams to project emissions, energy, and economic outcomes of an illustrative range of economy-wide carbon price policies. The study compared a coordinated reference scenario involving no new policies with policy scenarios that impose a price on all fossil fuel-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the U.S. The CO2 price scenarios begin in 2020 at $25/ton or$50/ton and rise each year over inflation at one percent or five percent. The scenarios also vary by the use of the revenue from the carbon pricing policy; scenarios include rebates to households and deficit neutral reductions in marginal tax rates on capital and labor income. Across all models and policy scenarios, the study finds that carbon pricing leads to significant reductions in CO2 emissions, the majority of which occur in the electricity sector via the reduction of coal use. Policy effects on other energy sources vary by model, for example owing to different technology cost assumptions (e.g., cost of natural gas vs. wind generation). Some models translate energy shifts into changes in conventional air pollutants, reporting declines consistent with substantial air quality benefits from the policy scenarios. The economic costs of the policies are expected to be modest – allowing for nearly identical economic growth– but vary across models. These costs are offset by benefits from avoided climate damages (which are not modeled in this study) and health benefits from reductions in conventional air pollution. The study finds that the CO2 taxes generate significant revenue; a $25/ton price would generate roughly$1.4 trillion over the first decade and all models reported that emissions reductions do not significantly depend on the use of the revenue. Using revenues to reduce capital or labor taxes reduces economy-wide costs in most models relative to household rebates, but the estimated size of the cost reductions varies significantly across models. Across all models that estimated impacts across households, devoting at least some revenue to household rebates improves outcomes for low income households relative to applying all revenue to reductions in other taxes. We focus here on results through 2030, concluding that beyond a decade model uncertainties are too large to make quantitative results useful for near-term policy design

Location, Location, and Gasoline: Do Gasoline Prices Affect Residential Property Values?

Come hear Dr. Neill discuss the effects of gasoline prices on residential property sales and how the effect varies by location within a city

Policy Insights From the EMF 32 Study on U.S. Carbon Tax Scenarios

The Stanford Energy Modeling Forum exercise 32 (EMF 32) used 11 different models to assess emissions, energy, and economic outcomes from a plausible range of economy-wide carbon price policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States. Here we discuss the most policy-relevant results of the study, mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of current models. Across all models, carbon prices lead to significant reduc- tions in CO2 emissions and conventional pollutants, with the vast majority of the reductions occurring in the electricity sector. Importantly, emissions reductions do not significantly depend on the rebate or tax cut used to return revenues to the economy. Expected economic costs, as modeled by either GDP or welfare, are modest, but vary across models. These costs are offset by benefits from avoided climate damages and health benefits from reductions in conventional air pollution. Using revenues to reduce preexisting capital or labor taxes reduces costs in most models relative to lump-sum rebates, but the size of the cost reductions varies significantly. Devoting at least some revenue to household rebates can significantly reduce adverse impacts on low income households. Carbon prices at $25/ton or even lower levels cause significant shifts away from coal as an energy source with responses of other energy sources highly dependent upon technology cost assumptions. Beyond 2030, we conclude that model uncertainties are too large to make quantitative results useful for near-term policy design. We close by describing recommendations for policymakers on interacting with model results in the future