Extramural Research
Economics and Decision Sciences: Solicitations
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Previous Economics and Decision Sciences Solicitations
Methodological Advances in Benefit Transfer Methods
Valuation for Environmental Policy
Environmental Behavior and Decisionmaking: Determining the Effectiveness of Environmental Information Disclosure and Provision
Corporate Environmental Behavior: Examining the Effectiveness of Government Interventions and Voluntary Initiatives
Decision-Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy
Valuation Of Environmental Impacts On Childrens Health
Market Mechanisms and Incentives for Environmental Management
What are some basic questions that we are trying to answer through our solicitations?
- What and how significant are the different motivations for environmental behavior (e.g., financial, reputation, ethics, etc) for different types of entities?
- What are the likely behavioral responses of different entities to various government interventions, including regulations, enforcement, technical assistance and incentives?
- How can programs be designed to take advantage of predictable behavioral responses to deliver cost-effective environmental protection through market forces?
- What are the theoretical and methodological issues in developing reliable estimates of how people value environmental and health benefits as individuals or in groups?
- What are the long term socio-economic trends and events that will have significant environmental effects; how can these effects be predicted and addressed?
What is the current focus of our research?
NCER's current 2006 socio-economics program includes two solicitations:
- Methodological Advances in Benefit Transfer Methods
NCER's current solicitation is attempting to generate economic values for the human health and ecological benefits influenced by environmental causes to allow accurate benefit-cost analysis for environmental policymaking to be conducted. EPA is interested in economic valuation research that will enhance the ability of public and private stakeholders to evaluate policies and actions using benefit transfer methods.
- Market Mechanisms and Incentives: Case Studies and Experimental Testbeds for New Environmental Trading Programs
These solicitations generally cover market-based mechanisms and other incentives for environmental management.
Questions we have tried to answer through past Corporate Environmental Behavior solicitations include:
- What determines environmental behavior or performance and compliance with environmental laws and regulations?
- What are the relationships between environmental compliance behavior and performance, and facility or business characteristics such as management structure, size, profitability, corporate policies, etc.?
More specific questions that EPA has tried to answer with the Corporate Environmental Behavior solicitations include:
- What motivates companies to monitor, dissuade and punish poor environmental performance by their own facilities or non-compliant behavior by their employees?
- What motivates firms to attain environmental performance beyond that required by regulation?
- What organizational characteristics (e.g., centralized or decentralized environmental compliance responsibility) foster improved environmental performance and compliance?
- What (non-governmental) financial incentives exist to encourage compliance? Does pollution prevention really pay? How and in what circumstances do environmental compliance and performance contribute to the bottom line?
DMVEP Program
- Costs of Environmental Programs: This area of research seeks to find and test integrated models and improved methods to estimate and validate aggregate and sectoral costs of environmental protection programs and policies.
- Ecosystem Valuation: Scientific advances in ecosystem research require a better understanding of the inter-connections among social, economic, physical, and biological systems. Research in this area identifies valuable ecosystem functions and focuses on how comprehensive and critical ecosystem changes can be measured in terms of social welfare.
- Benefits of Environmental Programs and Policies: This area of research seeks to develop methods to improve estimations of values of environmental protection programs and reductions in mortality and morbidity risks resulting from pollution and other environmental hazards.
- Decision-Making for Environmental Policy: This area of research examines the behavioral and institutional factors that influence the development, implementation, and evaluation of environmental policies. Improved understanding of these influences can lead to improvements in policy design and acceptability.
What were the areas of emphasis in NCER's past socioeconomic research solicitations?
1995
- Valuation for Environmental Policy
This competition emphasized research on methods of valuation of non-market environmental goods and services, especially ecosystems, using contingent valuation and other stated preference methods;
- Decision Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy
This competition was broadened to include valuation of non-cancer health benefits, and estimates of costs of alternative environmental policies including economic incentives;
- Decision-Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy
These competitions emphasized research in five areas (1) cost estimation; (2) benefit estimation; (3) identification of the relationship between the economy and environmental quality; (4) ecosystem valuation; and (5) decision-making.
- Valuation of Children's Health Effects
This competition focused on valuation of children's health effects in two areas (1) parental and societal willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in risks to children's health, and (2) improved transfer of benefits from existing adult-oriented analyses to children.
- Market Mechanisms and Incentives for Environmental Management
This competition offered in cooperation with the EPA Office of Policy and Innovation sought research projects on market-based mechanisms and other incentives for environmental management.
- Corporate Environmental Performance and the Effectiveness of Government Interventions
EPA in cooperation with DOJ/NIJ were interested in research that (1) identifies the determinants, or motivators, of regulated entities' environmental behavior and performance, and (2) assesses the influence of various governmental interventions on this behavior/performance.
- Corporate Environmental Behavior: Examining the Effectiveness of Government Interventions and Voluntary Initiatives
This solicitation succeeded the Corporate Environmental Performance and the Effectiveness of Government Intervention solicitation and continues to focus on the motivators behind adoption of environmentally sound business practices and the effects of government interventions on these motivators.
- Market Mechanisms and Incentives for Environmental Management
This RFA focused on market mechanisms and economic incentives was reissued for funding in January 2001.
- Valuation of Environmental Impacts on Human Health
This RFA emphasized research that developed theoretical and/or empirical methods and data to better value (1) the health risks to children from environmental sources, or (2) health risks with delayed onset, severe and long-term health consequences, such as cancer.
- Corporate Environmental Behavior
This category of solicitations covers the motivators of regulated entities' environmental behavior and performance, and assesses the influence of various governmental interventions.
- Market Mechanisms and Incentives
These solicitations generally cover market-based mechanisms and other incentives for environmental management.
- Decision Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy (with the National Science Foundation)
This RFP Solicits proposals in three focus areas:
- ecosystems valuation, including methods improvements as well as ways to incorporate non-monetize or non-quantifiable ecological information into environmental policy decisions;
- how to link individual with group or community valuation of environmental amenities; and community environmental decision-making in general;
- research on the costs and benefits, use and affects of environmental information in environmental decision-making
- Human Health Valuation
This RFP is designed to promote research to enhance economic valuation of reducing environmental risks to children's health - including the willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in (1) morbidity and (2) mortality risks to children's health. Health end points that may be addressed include: (a) childhood cancers, (b) incidence of food- or water-borne pathogenic illnesses, (c) developmental disorders; (d) respiratory illnesses; and (e) diseases, both fatal and non-fatal, that may manifest in adulthood as a result of childhood exposure to toxins or pathogens. Attributes that might be addressed may include intelligence, fertility, functionality, mobility, and life expectancy. This research is expected to emphasize development of empirical research and data.