Brattle | Insights & Events | Environment & Natural Resources https://www.brattle.com/ Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:01:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 https://www.brattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/favicon.png Brattle https://www.brattle.com/ 32 32 Brattle to Sponsor the AERE Annual Summer Conference https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/events/brattle-to-sponsor-the-aere-annual-summer-conference/ Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:01:41 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/?p=50759 The post Brattle to Sponsor the AERE Annual Summer Conference appeared first on Brattle.

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Brattle Congratulates Academic Advisor Dr. Michael Goldstein on Appointment as Secretary/Treasurer of the Financial Management Association https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-congratulates-academic-advisor-dr-michael-goldstein-on-appointment-as-secretary-treasurer-of-the-financial-management-association/ Fri, 15 Apr 2022 15:10:15 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/?p=45696 We congratulate Brattle Academic Advisor Dr. Michael Goldstein on his appointment to Secretary/Treasurer at the Financial Management Association (FMA). He will start his new position on Saturday, April 16. Dr. Goldstein will also continue in his capacity as Professor of Finance at Babson College, where he holds the Donald P. Babson Chair in Applied Investments. […]

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We congratulate Brattle Academic Advisor Dr. Michael Goldstein on his appointment to Secretary/Treasurer at the Financial Management Association (FMA). He will start his new position on Saturday, April 16.

Dr. Goldstein will also continue in his capacity as Professor of Finance at Babson College, where he holds the Donald P. Babson Chair in Applied Investments. He specializes in examining the structure of equity and bond markets and does work in climate change, dividend policy, asset pricing, real estate, and privatization.

We wish Dr. Goldstein all the best in this new role.

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Brattle Group Report Demonstrates that Available Evidence Does Not Support Polystyrene Ban in California https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-group-report-demonstrates-that-available-evidence-does-not-support-polystyrene-ban-in-california/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-group-report-demonstrates-that-available-evidence-does-not-support-polystyrene-ban-in-california/#respond Tue, 07 Dec 2021 21:43:52 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/?p=29426 Brattle economists Mark Berkman and David Sunding have completed a report for Dart Container Corporation that discusses a proposed ban on polystyrene food and beverage containers in California. The report, “Economic Analysis of SB568’s Proposed Polystyrene Ban,” finds that the costs of banning polystyrene food service items could be over $500 million per year in […]

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Brattle economists Mark Berkman and David Sunding have completed a report for Dart Container Corporation that discusses a proposed ban on polystyrene food and beverage containers in California. The report, “Economic Analysis of SB568’s Proposed Polystyrene Ban,” finds that the costs of banning polystyrene food service items could be over $500 million per year in the state of California. Drs. Berkman and Sunding argue that a product ban must be considered in terms of its cost and what it achieves from an environmental and social point of view. Based on the report’s analysis, costs to California’s already financially strapped public schools, in particular, could exceed $112 million annually as a result of a ban. At the same time, the social benefits of the ban are highly uncertain and quite possibly very modest. According to recent life cycle cost comparisons, the use of substitute products, such as paper food service items, will result in higher energy and water consumption and, depending on the mix of substitutes preferred by consumers, higher greenhouse gas emissions. The impact on litter—a main objective of the ban—also appears to be small. The impact of polystyrene on marine ecosystems is yet unknown and available evidence does not provide justification for significant environmental and economic costs the ban will entail. The report concludes that the costs of the proposed ban are likely to be large without clear corresponding benefits. Brattle’s client, Dart Container Corporation, credits the report with helping to delay legislation to impose the ban. The report is available for download below.

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The Stated Preference Method: Is It Reliable for Determining Natural Resources Damages? What are the Alternatives? https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/the-stated-preference-method-is-it-reliable-for-determining-natural-resources-damages-what-are-the-alternatives/ Mon, 06 Dec 2021 19:53:21 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/?p=44522 View Presentation

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Article by Jürgen Weiss Examines the Benefits and Costs for Utilities of Moving Fast or Slow on Climate Change Mitigation https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/article-by-jurgen-weiss-examines-the-benefits-and-costs-for-utilities-of-moving-fast-or-slow-on-climate-change-mitigation/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/article-by-jurgen-weiss-examines-the-benefits-and-costs-for-utilities-of-moving-fast-or-slow-on-climate-change-mitigation/#respond Mon, 09 Aug 2021 18:50:25 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/?p=29138 Principal Jürgen Weiss co-authored an article for the July 2015 issue of The Economists’ Voice that assesses the benefits and costs for utilities in waiting or hurrying when taking climate change mitigation measures.

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Brattle principal Jürgen Weiss co-authored an article for the July 2015 issue of The Economists’ Voice that assesses the benefits and costs for utilities in waiting or hurrying when taking climate change mitigation measures.

The risks of global climate change are likely to lead to the de-carbonization of the electricity sector worldwide, bringing with it significant investments in infrastructure with new and emerging technologies in renewable energy. In their article, “Hurry or Wait – The Pros and Cons of Going Fast or Slow on Climate Change,” Dr. Weiss and Professor Eleanor Denny explain that there are both benefits and costs to mitigating climate change rapidly. Because technological progress will likely lower the future cost of renewable energy, there are benefits for utilities in waiting to invest until these costs fall. On the other hand, delaying mitigation results in higher cumulative greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), which in turn have two associated costs. First, higher cumulative GHG emissions lead to higher expected damages. Using a range of estimates for the social cost of carbon, the authors conclude that this first cost is of the same order of magnitude as potential savings from delaying deployment of renewable energy.

A second cost, however, results to the significant uncertainty concerning the relationship of cumulative emissions and resulting climate change. The authors argue that given a ten percent chance of carbon emissions on the current trajectory leading to a global temperature increase of seven degrees Centigrade or more, the insurance value of mitigating fast is likely significant and should tip the balance in favor of moving fast.

For more information, please visit The Economists’ Voice website.

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Brattle Group Consultants Publish Article on Accuracy of Benefits Transfer for Environmental Valuation https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/brattle-group-consultants-publish-article-on-accuracy-of-benefits-transfer-for-environmental-valuation/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/brattle-group-consultants-publish-article-on-accuracy-of-benefits-transfer-for-environmental-valuation/#respond Mon, 21 Jun 2021 09:13:15 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/the-accuracy-of-benefits-transfer-for-environmental-valuation/ Brattle Principal Mark Berkman, former Associate Gina Waterfield, and former Brattle Consultant Martha Rogers have authored an article, “The Accuracy of Benefits Transfer for Environmental Valuation” for the recent issue of the American Bar Association’s Trends.

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Brattle Principal Mark Berkman, former Associate Gina Waterfield, and former Consultant Martha Rogers have authored an article, “The Accuracy of Benefits Transfer for Environmental Valuation” for the recent issue of the American Bar Association’s Trends.

The authors point out that many environmental regulatory and legal proceedings rely heavily on monetizing natural resource and recreational impacts. In the regulatory realm, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to assess all social benefits and costs for any regulatory changes that would impact the U.S. economy by$100 million or more. In the legal realm, natural resource damages (NRD), such as those resulting from oil spills and other contamination, also require monetization. Economists have developed several methods to estimate social costs and damages including travel cost models, hedonic pricing models, and contingent valuation.

These methods, however, are expensive to implement and require time consuming statistical analysis. Secondary methods have been developed to avoid these implementation costs, including a method referred to as the benefits transfer approach. This approach relies on borrowing a value, say for a lost fishing day from one study at one site and applying it to another similarly situated site. This approach has become widely used, applied in almost 50% of oil spill cases over the past 30 years. The application of benefits transfer in these cases frequently use one of the most straightforward applications of the method, namely a simple average of estimates across comparable studies, that lags behind the more technical benefits transfer approaches now common in the academic literature.

The authors posit that despite the average value benefits transfer approach’s widespread use, it remains a second best approach. They analyze how well it performs using statistical analysis and demonstrate that its viability depends heavily on how similar the selected sites are. The authors provide evidence of the importance of care and judgement in the implementation of benefits transfer in order to improve viability.

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Brattle to Host Webinar on Methods for Determining Natural Resource Damages https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/events/brattle-to-host-webinar-on-methods-for-determining-natural-resource-damages/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/events/brattle-to-host-webinar-on-methods-for-determining-natural-resource-damages/#respond Mon, 21 Jun 2021 09:13:11 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-to-host-webinar-on-methods-for-determining-natural-resource-damages/ Brattle invites you to join us for our upcoming webinar, “The Stated Preference Method: Is it Reliable for Determining Natural Resource Damages?” taking place Thursday, September 27th at 11am PST.

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Brattle invites you to join us for our upcoming webinar, “The Stated Preference Method: Is it Reliable for Determining Natural Resource Damages?” taking place Thursday, September 27th at 11am PST.

Although recent cases, such as Deepwater Horizon, still rely on stated preference methods, especially the Contingent Valuation (CV) method, to measure non-use damages that result from major environmental accidents, experts continue to debate its reliability.

The webinar will discuss economic and legal perspectives on the complexities of this method, address a new academic paper’s proposal to replace the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s guidance on the method, pose guiding questions that should be addressed when applying this method in natural resource damages cases, and review the alternative tools available to economists to provide damage valuations.

Speakers include:

  • Mark Berkman, Principal, The Brattle Group
  • David Sunding, Principal, The Brattle Group, and Professor, University of California, Berkeley
  • Daniel McFadden, Principal, The Brattle Group, and Professor, University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley
  • Vic Adamowicz, Professor and Vice Dean, University of Alberta
  • Loren Dunn, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond
  • James Bruen, Partner, Farella, Braun & Martel

The webinar has been approved for 1 CLE California credit. To register, please visit here. For questions, please contact events@brattle.com.

To listen to the on-demand recording of this webinar, please visit here.

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Brattle Team Contributes to $850 Million Settlement in Minnesota v. 3M https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-team-contributes-to-850-million-settlement-in-minnesota-v-3m/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-team-contributes-to-850-million-settlement-in-minnesota-v-3m/#respond Mon, 21 Jun 2021 09:09:22 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-team-contributes-to-850-million-settlement-in-minnesota-v-3m/ 3M Co. has settled a lawsuit related to groundwater and surface water contamination with the State of Minnesota for $850 million on the day trial was set to begin. Brattle economists provided evidence on liability and assessed damages on behalf of the State of Minnesota.

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3M Co. has settled a lawsuit related to groundwater and surface water contamination with the State of Minnesota for $850 million on the day trial was set to begin.

Attorney General Lori Swanson noted she was pleased with the settlement, and that the money would be used to help affected communities, to improve drinking water quality and sustainability, and to fund natural resource projects. Brattle economists provided evidence on liability and assessed damages on behalf of the State of Minnesota.

The long and contentious case began in 2010 as a lawsuit over fish and waterways in Minnesota, and developed into a dispute regarding contamination of some of the state’s drinking water supplies. The state posited that perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), which were previously used in 3M products, had entered some of the state’s water resources and was contributing to health and environmental issues in the area.

A Brattle team led by Principal David Sunding and managed by Associate Gina Waterfield used statistical methods to demonstrate that the affected communities faced elevated rates of certain adverse health outcomes associated with PFCs. They also evaluated the effects of the contamination on local property values and on the welfare of recreational visitors to contaminated lakes and rivers. Dr. Sunding testified on his analyses in depositions, and his report was released publicly in support of the State’s request for punitive damages.

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Brattle Principal Ahmad Faruqui Co-Authors Article on Dynamic Pricing and Low-Income Customers for Public Utilities Fortnightly https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/dynamic-pricing-and-low-income-customers/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/dynamic-pricing-and-low-income-customers/#respond Thu, 26 Oct 2017 19:38:25 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/dynamic-pricing-and-low-income-customers/ Brattle principal Ahmad Faruqui and Lisa Wood, executive director of the Edison Foundation’s Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE), co-authored an article published in the November 2010 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. The article is based on a whitepaper prepared by Brattle consultants for the IEE that examined simulations involving dynamic pricing and reviewed the empirical […]

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Brattle principal Ahmad Faruqui and Lisa Wood, executive director of the Edison Foundation’s Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE), co-authored an article published in the November 2010 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. The article is based on a whitepaper prepared by Brattle consultants for the IEE that examined simulations involving dynamic pricing and reviewed the empirical evidence from some recent dynamic pricing programs.

In the article, “Dynamic Pricing and Low-Income Customers,” Dr. Faruqui and Dr. Wood discuss the two types of dynamic pricing that have garnered the most attention within the power industry, critical peak pricing (CPP) and peak-time rebate (PTR), and the studies that have been conducted to test the effects of each. They conclude that low-income customers do respond to dynamic rates, and many experienced benefits even without shifting their load in response to price signals.

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Brattle Consultants Author Competitive Assessment of the Spanish Food Supply Chain https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/brattle-consultants-author-competitive-assessment-of-the-spanish-food-supply-chain/ https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/brattle-consultants-author-competitive-assessment-of-the-spanish-food-supply-chain/#respond Thu, 26 Oct 2017 19:38:25 +0000 https://www.brattle.com/insights-events/news/brattle-consultants-author-competitive-assessment-of-the-spanish-food-supply-chain/ On behalf of PROMARCA (the National Brands Spanish Manufacturers’ Association), Brattle principal José Antonio García and Academic Advisor Juan Delgado have released a study that evaluates the impact of private labels on the competitiveness of the Spanish food supply chain. More specifically, the study analyzes the impact of market concentration and the expansion of private […]

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On behalf of PROMARCA (the National Brands Spanish Manufacturers’ Association), Brattle principal José Antonio García and Academic Advisor Juan Delgado have released a study that evaluates the impact of private labels on the competitiveness of the Spanish food supply chain.

More specifically, the study analyzes the impact of market concentration and the expansion of private levels on final prices, quality, and innovation. The study provides empirical evidence that suggests the existence of dominant positions at the retail level of Mercadona in the regions of Comunidad Valenciana and Andalucía, and Eroski in the Basque Country. It concludes that the increased concentration of retailers, the tendency toward vertical integration, and the rise in the market share of private labels are already having a negative effect on price (and quality) competition and on the incentives of manufacturers to invest in new products and innovate. It further highlights that the discriminatory management of manufacturer and retailer brands adopted by dominant retailers may have exclusionary effects for the manufacturer brands that may ultimately reduce the consumer welfare. The authors propose a list of guidelines to promote competition in the Spanish food supply market, including prohibitions to privileged information exchanges between manufactures and retailers related to strategic variables (such as prices, costs structures, promotions and sales) and the imposition of FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) conditions on the commercial relations between manufacturers and retailers. Drs. García and Delgado recently discussed the findings of their study during a presentation before the Spanish Ministry. Their report and meeting were featured in Expansión, an economic newspaper based in Madrid, Spain.

The Brattle study, as well as a summary presentation of the report, can be downloaded using the links below.

Report

Summary Presentation

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