The Economics (and Politics) of US Energy Policy

Robert Hahn discussed the economics and politics of US energy policy. He argued that energy policy and environmental policy are inextricably linked and that both are heavily influenced by politics. Drawing on his experience and results from recent research, he suggested how politics could affect the design of energy policy and climate policy. He also explored how researchers may want to address political constraints in the design of policy.

Chair: Dr Giles Atkinson, reader in environmental policy at LSE

Speaker: Dr Robert W Hahn, executive director of the Reg-Markets Center at American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

Biography of Robert Hahn

Robert Hahn is founder and executive director of the Reg-Markets Center at American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which continues the AEI-Brookings Joint Center’s mission of examining cutting edge issues in law and economics, regulation and antitrust. He is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at Oxford University’s Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment.

Previously, he worked for the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where he helped design the innovative market-based approach for reducing acid rain.

Dr. Hahn has also served on the faculties of Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University.

He frequently contributes to leading scholarly journals and general interest periodicals, including the American Economic Review, Yale Law Journal, Science, and the New York Times.

Dr Hahn is the author of Reviving Regulatory Reform: A global perspective (AEI-Brookings) and several other books.

In addition, Dr. Hahn is co-founder of the Community Preparatory School, an inner-city middle school in Providence, Rhode Island, which provides opportunities for disadvantaged youth to achieve their full potential.