This week’s episode is the first in a three-part series that celebrates the 70th anniversary of Resources for the Future (RFF). Over that time span, RFF has had a significant impact on the fields of environmental economics and policy. In this episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Ray Kopp, RFF’s recently retired vice president for research and policy engagement, and Kerry Smith, an RFF university fellow (who also happened to be Ray Kopp’s graduate school advisor). Kopp continues to lead the organization’s Comprehensive Climate Strategies Program. Kopp, Smith, and Hayes discuss the 70-year history and legacy of RFF, the real-world impacts of its research, and how the act of conducting research itself has changed through the decades. They take a trip down RFF memory lane to explore how the world of environmental economics has evolved over the past 70 years—and how RFF has helped shape that evolution.

References and recommendations:

“Scarcity and Growth: The Economics of Natural Resource Availability” by Harold J. Barnett and Chandler Morse; https://www.routledge.com/Scarcity-and-Growth-The-Economics-of-Natural-Resource-Availability/Barnett-Morse/p/book/9781617260315

“Air Pollution and Human Health” by Lester B. Lave and Eugene P. Seskin; https://www.routledge.com/Air-Pollution-and-Human-Health/Lave-Seskin/p/book/9781617260582

Marchant calculator; https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_690723

“The Voltage Effect” by John A. List; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672117/the-voltage-effect-by-john-a-list/

“Big Data for Twenty-First-Century Economic Statistics” edited by Katharine G. Abraham, Ron S. Jarmin, Brian C. Moyer, and Matthew D. Shapiro; https://www.nber.org/books-and-chapters/big-data-twenty-first-century-economic-statistics

“Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari; https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/

“The Food Lab” by J. Kenji López-Alt; https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393081084