Environmental Liability
Our goal is to help decisionmakers design pragmatic policies that improve the environment through cost-effective means
The RAND Institute for Civil Justice has conducted research on environmental liability for over a decade. The thrust of this work has been to help decision-makers shape and improve environmental policy so that it is both effective in meeting stated goals and efficient in its implementation.
The ICJ chooses environmental issues according to their importance to policy choices on the near horizon. Consequently, our research focuses on the real-world performance of environmental policies. In order to research the impact of policies impartially, our research takes a systems approach—for example, focusing on interactions among the various forces that influence private sector decisions that will have environmental consequences.
Commercial Wind Insurance in the Gulf States: Developments Since Hurricane Katrina and Challenges Moving Forward — 2007
Summarizes the 2005 hurricane season's impact on the market for commercial property insurance in the Gulf States, proposes goals and challenges for a wind risk insurance system, and identifies where further research is needed.
In the Name of Entrepreneurship? The Logic and Effects of Special Regulatory Treatment for Small Business — 2007
What are the differential effects of regulation and policy on small businesses? What is the impact of special regulatory treatment for small businesses? This book offers analysis of key public policy issues with implications for small businesses.
The Lender-Placed Flood Insurance Market for Residential Properties — 2007
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides the majority of flood insurance on U.S. residential properties. This report provides information about the size of the private flood insurance market and compares private with NFIP policies.
Private Insurers Play a Limited, but Key, Role in Underwriting Residential Flood Insurance — 2007
This research brief summarizes a study that found that the private insurance industry underwrites residential flood insurance in a limited but important niche, protecting more homes, responding to lender and borrower needs, and reducing lender costs.
Evaluating National Flood Insurance — 2006
This research brief assesses the nationwide market penetration rate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency-administered National Flood Insurance Program, identifies the contributing factors, and summarizes the benefits of increasing this rate.
The National Flood Insurance Program’s Market Penetration Rate: Estimates and Policy Implications — 2006
This report contributes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program by assessing the program's market penetration rate and by examining opportunities for increasing this rate.
Fighting Air Pollution in Southern California by Scrapping Old Vehicles — 2001
Analyzes the effects of an innovative and controversial program — voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement — that is part of California's plan for complying with federal clean-air standards by the required date of 2010.
Scrapping Old Vehicles Would Improve Southern California Air Quality at Reasonable Cost — 2001
A California program to scrap old passenger cars and light-duty trucks (light-duty vehicles, or LDVs) would improve air quality in the greater Los Angeles area at a reasonable cost.
The Financial Implications of Releasing Small Firms and Small-Volume Contributors from Superfund Liability — 2000
Estimates the number of PRPs that would be released and the cleanup costs that would be transferred to the Fund by recent proposals.
Releasing Small Firms from Superfund Liability: What Will It Cost? — 2000
Provides information about proposals to exempt small firms and small-volume contributors, including the number and proportion of business firms that would be released, the proposals' dollar costs, and their effect on firms that would remain liable.
Building a New Vision for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: Options for Key Policy Decisions — 1998
Drawing on over 100 interviews with a wide range of people and organizations, this report identifies issues that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California must address as it reevaluates its role in the Southern California water industry.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.: Does Superfund Increase the Cost of Capital? — 1998
Superfund liability may impose financial risk on investors and thereby increase firms' costs of capital.
The Impact of Water Supply Reductions on San Joaquin Valley Agriculture During the 1986-1992 Drought — 1998
This report attempts to improve understanding of the likely effects of water supply reductions on agriculture.
California’s Ozone-Reduction Strategy for Light-Duty Vehicles: Direct Costs, Direct Emission Effects, and Market Responses — 1996
The study analyzes costs, emissions effects, effects on vehicle markets, and the distribution of costs for regulations for California's multi-pronged strategy.
Economic Perspectives on Revising California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate — 1996
This publication contains the written statement of Lloyd S. Dixon and Steven Garber delivered on March 28, 1996, to the California Air Resources Board.
Making ZEV Policy Despite Uncertainty: An Annotated Briefing for the California Air Resources Board — 1996
An analysis of the existing estimates of the cost and effectiveness of California's zero emission vehicle mandate.
Superfund Liability Reform: Implications for Transaction Costs and Site Cleanup — 1995
This publication contains the written statement of Lloyd S. Dixon submitted on March 10, 1995, to the Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control and Risk Assessment of the United States Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Fixing Superfund: Getting the Formula Right — 1994
This research brief describes the contentious interactions among firms that generated or transported hazardous wastes and are thus liable for cleanup.
Fixing Superfund: The Effect of the Proposed Superfund Reform Act of 1994 on Transaction Costs — 1994
This report focuses on the possible effect of the proposed Superfund Reform Act of 1994 on transaction costs -- costs resulting not from cleanup but from assigning liability for cleanup among the various parties.
Assessment of the Economic Impacts of California's Drought on Urban Areas: A Research Agenda — 1993
1987-91 California drought, evaluates existing work on the economic effects of the drought, and presents an agenda for future research to make an overall estimate of the economic costs of the drought in urban areas.
Private-Sector Cleanup Expenditures and Transaction Costs at 18 Superfund Sites — 1993
This report will be of interest to those evaluating Superfund's liability-based approach to cleaning up the thousands of abandoned or inactive sites across the United States that are contaminated with hazardous substances.
RAND Research on Superfund Transaction Costs: A Summary of Findings to Date — 1993
This publication contains the written statement of Lloyd S. Dixon submitted on November 4, 1993 to the Subcommittee on Superfund, Recycling, and Solid Waste of the United States Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Superfund: The Private-Sector Experience — 1992
This research brief examines the extent of the involvement of private parties with Superfund site cleanup.
Superfund and Transaction Costs: The Experiences of Insurers and Very Large Industrial Firms — 1992
Congress enacted the Superfund program in 1980 to clean up the nation's worst inactive hazardous-waste sites. Superfund uses a liability-based approach intended to help government tap private-sector resources to finance and conduct cleanups.
Understanding Superfund — 1989
This research brief describes a study that sought to determine the effects of Superfund’s liability-based system and its administrative procedures on the program’s pace and cost and on the nature of the remedies selected.
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