Editorial—The Role of Environmental Economics in U.S. Environmental Policy

Abstract

This Editorial, written by a former United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator under President Barack Obama, is adapted from the author's keynote address on June 25, 2018 at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists in Gothenburg, Sweden. It reviews the important history of environmental economics and how it has influenced rulemaking at the EPA. It discusses how attacks on science are being used to weaken environmental regulations and how these attacks extend to the science of environmental economics. It concludes with a call to action that reminds environmental economists that continuing to do good science is as important as ever.