The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law

In this book David Driesen shows in detail how the concept of economic dynamics canreshape thinking about environmental law and policy. He argues that environmental policymaking inthe United States has been poorly served by the dominant, static view of the relationship betweenenvironmental regulation and the economy, technology, and business. Basing public policy on theconcept of economic efficiency, he claims, warps our sense of what is necessary and achievable inenvironmental lawmaking.According to Driesen, environmentally beneficial technological innovationwould be a more effective public policy goal than economic efficiency because it could better keeppace with private-sector innovations that create new forms of pollution and resource destruction.His arguments provide a corrective to the free-market and cost-benefit analysis approaches common tomost proposals for regulatory reform. Those who believe that environmental law should focus oneconomic efficiency assume that efficiency and innovation coincide. But static efficiency maydetract from, rather than stimulate, creativity in the real world. Cost-benefit analysis maydiscourage innovation by adding delay and uncertainty to government decisions. Economic incentivessuch as emissions trading may facilitate better use of existing techniques rather than bring aboutfundamental changes in technology. Driesen suggests ways that the regulatory system could betterfoster environmentally beneficial technological innovations. Using the theory of economic dynamics,he discusses privatizing environmental law, reforming administrative and international legalprocesses, and improving regulation design. He also explains the significance of economic dynamicsfor legal theory in general.

David M. Driesen is University Professor at Syracuse University College of Law. He is the author of The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law (MIT Press, 2003), winner of the 2004 Lynton Keith Caldwell Award for best book on environmental policy, presented by the American Political Science Association.