3 Qs: Economist makes the case for new quasi-experiments as a way of studying environmental issues

Friday, April 18, 2014 - 08:30 in Mathematics & Economics

How can scholars get traction on environmental problems, particularly those relating to pollution? In an essay appearing in this week's issue of the journal Science, MIT economist Michael Greenstone, along with co-authors Francesca Dominici and Cass Sunstein of Harvard University, make the case for "quasi-experiments," or "natural experiments," which have gained prominence in other domains of the social sciences. Environmental economics, they suggest, can rely increasingly on quasi-experiments to sharpen its conclusions about which kinds of environmental action are most cost-effective. Greenstone sat down with MIT News to discuss the subject.

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