Resources for the Future
Encyclopedia
Resources for the Future (RFF) is a nonprofit organization that conducts independent research into environmental, energy, and natural resource issues, primarily via economics and other social sciences. Headquartered in Washington, D.C.
, RFF performs research around the world. Founded in 1952, the institution is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of resource economics.
asked William S. Paley
, the chairman of the board of Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS
), to form a Materials Policy Commission to study the country's natural resource needs. The report, Resources for Freedom: Foundations for Growth and Security, recommended the formation of an independent organization to analyze the supply of the country’s natural resources.
Founded in 1952 with initial grants from the Ford Foundation
, RFF focused in its early years on natural resource scarcity and import dependence, helping to pioneer the field of resource economics. It became the first "think tank" devoted exclusively to natural resource and environmental issues.
As of 2011, RFF’s staff encompasses some 75 researchers and staff. Most researchers hold doctorates in economics, but many also hold advanced degrees in engineering, law, ecology, city and regional planning, U.S. government, and public policy and management, among other fields.
In addition, specialized centers, programs, and initiatives at RFF focus on specific areas of research and operate collaboratively across disciplines. These include the Center for Climate and Electricity Policy; the Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth; the Center for Energy Economics and Policy; the Center for Forest Economics and Policy; and the Environment for Development. RFF also established and is closely affiliated with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy, which is now an independent unit.
Although RFF scholars are free to express professional opinions in their research, the organization itself does not take institutional positions on legislation or regulatory policy. RFF characterizes itself as nonpartisan, objective, and independent, "acting as a neutral broker of sound information and data."
RFF publishes Resources magazine, as well as discussion papers, issue briefs, and peer-reviewed reports. Its book publishing operation, RFF Press, an imprint of Routledge, publishes book-length works by RFF staff and outside researchers, academics, and journalists.
In June 2010, RFF was awarded the FEEM 20th Anniversary Prize in Environmental Economics by the European-based Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. The award recognized RFF as a “key driver of market-based environmental policy.”
, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
comprised RFF’s top five donors in 2009. The organization's research programs make up the bulk of its expenses, amounting to 76.8 percent in 2010.
RFF also conducted pathbreaking research on the allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum
. Harvey J. Levin's book The Invisible Resource: Use and Regulation of the Radio Spectrum(1971), advocated a market-based approach. Twenty years later, the Federal Communications Commission
began licensing and auctioning these airwaves accordingly.
from Indiana (1975 to 1995). He then joined the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University
. As of 2010, Sharp is co-chair of the Energy Board of the Keystone Center and serves on the Board of Directors of the Duke Energy
Corporation and the Energy Foundation. He is also a member of the Cummins Science and Technology Advisory Council and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
and on the External Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Energy Initiative. He is a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future and the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance. He was an inaugural inductee into the Energy Efficiency Forum Hall of Fame in 2009.
Paul R. Portney served as president of RFF from 1995 to 2005. Portney joined the research staff of RFF in 1972. From 1986 to 1989 he headed two of its research divisions, and in 1989 he became its vice president. In June 2005, Portney became dean of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona
. One journalist assessed Portney's tenure at RFF by saying that "he never shied away from using the facts to challenge business interests that reflexively opposed all regulation, or environmental groups that never met one they didn’t like."
The CEEP research team, led by RFF Research Director and Senior Fellow Alan Krupnick, will survey expert opinion and public perception to deter¬mine the most significant risks and the behaviors of industry and regulators that influence those risks. Pairing these findings to an analysis of existing state and federal policies will lead to recommendations for how to improve the management of shale gas development.
In August 2010, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling asked CEEP to conduct a series of studies that would help inform the commission’s report and recommendations. Nearly a dozen RFF experts in risk assessment, regulatory and benefit–cost analysis, government enforcement, and the oil industry formulated a series of findings and recommendations to improve the safety of future oil drilling operations.
In response to questions on a clean energy standard (CES) posed by leadership of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in April 2011, experts from RFF submitted key findings from their research and modeling.
Several RFF researchers contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), the co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
. Among current and former RFF researchers who have participated in the nearly two decades since the IPCC was founded are Senior Fellows Alan Krupnick, Roger Sedjo, William Pizer, and Richard Morgenstern.
In 2009, an RFF study The State of the Great Outdoors: America's Parks, Public Lands, and Recreation Resources, examined the condition of America’s outdoor resources, the demand for recreation, and the financing of conservation, parks, and open space. It was carried out in conjunction with the Outdoor Resources Review Group, a bipartisan assemblage of public officials, conservation specialists, and recreation professionals.
In 2010, RFF and the National Energy Policy Institute released a comprehensive economic analysis of more than 35 available policy options for reducing U.S. oil consumption and curbing carbon dioxide emissions through 2030. Combining a standardized modeling approach and the judgments of top academic experts from around the country, Toward a New National Energy Policy: Assessing the Options provides a rigorous “apples-to apples” comparison of how different polices rank in terms of such quantitative measures as costs and ability to reduce CO2 emissions and barrels of oil consumed.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, RFF performs research around the world. Founded in 1952, the institution is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of resource economics.
Overview and history
In 1951, U.S. President Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
asked William S. Paley
William S. Paley
William S. Paley was the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.-Early life:...
, the chairman of the board of Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
), to form a Materials Policy Commission to study the country's natural resource needs. The report, Resources for Freedom: Foundations for Growth and Security, recommended the formation of an independent organization to analyze the supply of the country’s natural resources.
Founded in 1952 with initial grants from the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
, RFF focused in its early years on natural resource scarcity and import dependence, helping to pioneer the field of resource economics. It became the first "think tank" devoted exclusively to natural resource and environmental issues.
As of 2011, RFF’s staff encompasses some 75 researchers and staff. Most researchers hold doctorates in economics, but many also hold advanced degrees in engineering, law, ecology, city and regional planning, U.S. government, and public policy and management, among other fields.
In addition, specialized centers, programs, and initiatives at RFF focus on specific areas of research and operate collaboratively across disciplines. These include the Center for Climate and Electricity Policy; the Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth; the Center for Energy Economics and Policy; the Center for Forest Economics and Policy; and the Environment for Development. RFF also established and is closely affiliated with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy, which is now an independent unit.
Although RFF scholars are free to express professional opinions in their research, the organization itself does not take institutional positions on legislation or regulatory policy. RFF characterizes itself as nonpartisan, objective, and independent, "acting as a neutral broker of sound information and data."
RFF publishes Resources magazine, as well as discussion papers, issue briefs, and peer-reviewed reports. Its book publishing operation, RFF Press, an imprint of Routledge, publishes book-length works by RFF staff and outside researchers, academics, and journalists.
In June 2010, RFF was awarded the FEEM 20th Anniversary Prize in Environmental Economics by the European-based Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. The award recognized RFF as a “key driver of market-based environmental policy.”
Funding
RFF is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. In fiscal year 2010, RFF's operating revenue was $11.04 million, most of which came from individual and corporate contributions, foundation and government grants, and investment income. The United States Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The foundation's mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans...
, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
comprised RFF’s top five donors in 2009. The organization's research programs make up the bulk of its expenses, amounting to 76.8 percent in 2010.
Notable RFF research
Several influential scholars from RFF's early years helped shape environmental policies worldwide.- John Krutilla was a central figure at RFF from 1955 to 1988. In his 1967 paper "Conservation Reconsidered," Krutilla described the economic value of undisturbed natural environments like rivers and forests. Published in the American Economic Review, the paper became "a benchmark in the economics of conservation" and provided a basis for including preservation benefits in policy analysis.
- Allen Kneese joined RFF in 1961, and his work on water quality management led him to argue that market-based incentives like pollution taxes, which left it up to each polluter to find the cheapest and easiest way to comply, were more efficient than conventional regulation at reducing pollution and costs to the economy. Revolutionary in the 1960s, Kneese's ideas laid the groundwork for the sulfur dioxideSulfur dioxideSulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
emissions-trading program established by Congress in 1990 to curb acid rain. - Hans Landsberg began his work at RFF in 1960, specializing in energy and mineral economics. His contributions included lead-authorship of Resources in America's Future (1963), a thousand-page volume examining the role of natural resources in the U.S. economy and projecting their long-term availability. Both this and another 1963 RFF publication, Scarcity and Growth, set out the idea that growth was a bigger problem than natural resource shortages.
- Marion Clawson, a long-time RFF scholar and a former acting president of the institution, was a pioneer in the field of resource economics who had a major influence on government policies over public lands and forest management. His 1975 book Forests for Whom and for What? examined ways to balance timber production, recreation, and ecology in the use of federal forest land. He was an early advocate of sustainability in management of natural environments and preservation of wilderness areas
RFF also conducted pathbreaking research on the allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
. Harvey J. Levin's book The Invisible Resource: Use and Regulation of the Radio Spectrum(1971), advocated a market-based approach. Twenty years later, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
began licensing and auctioning these airwaves accordingly.
Leadership
Philip R. Sharp became president of RFF on September 1, 2005. Before joining RFF, Sharp served 10 terms as a member of the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Indiana (1975 to 1995). He then joined the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. As of 2010, Sharp is co-chair of the Energy Board of the Keystone Center and serves on the Board of Directors of the Duke Energy
Duke Energy
Duke Energy , headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an energy company with assets in the United States, Canada and Latin America.-Overview:...
Corporation and the Energy Foundation. He is also a member of the Cummins Science and Technology Advisory Council and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations , headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, GA, is an organization established in 1979 by the U.S. nuclear power industry in response to recommendations by the Kemeny Commission Report, following the investigation of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 event...
and on the External Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Energy Initiative. He is a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future and the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance. He was an inaugural inductee into the Energy Efficiency Forum Hall of Fame in 2009.
Paul R. Portney served as president of RFF from 1995 to 2005. Portney joined the research staff of RFF in 1972. From 1986 to 1989 he headed two of its research divisions, and in 1989 he became its vice president. In June 2005, Portney became dean of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. One journalist assessed Portney's tenure at RFF by saying that "he never shied away from using the facts to challenge business interests that reflexively opposed all regulation, or environmental groups that never met one they didn’t like."
Recent and current projects
In July 2011, RFF’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP) launched an initiative to identify the priority risks associated with the hydraulic fracturing of shale formations and recommend strategies for responsible development. This analysis, made possible by a $1.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will be the first independent, broad assessment of the key risks associated with the shale gas development process.The CEEP research team, led by RFF Research Director and Senior Fellow Alan Krupnick, will survey expert opinion and public perception to deter¬mine the most significant risks and the behaviors of industry and regulators that influence those risks. Pairing these findings to an analysis of existing state and federal policies will lead to recommendations for how to improve the management of shale gas development.
In August 2010, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling asked CEEP to conduct a series of studies that would help inform the commission’s report and recommendations. Nearly a dozen RFF experts in risk assessment, regulatory and benefit–cost analysis, government enforcement, and the oil industry formulated a series of findings and recommendations to improve the safety of future oil drilling operations.
In response to questions on a clean energy standard (CES) posed by leadership of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in April 2011, experts from RFF submitted key findings from their research and modeling.
Several RFF researchers contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
(IPCC), the co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. Among current and former RFF researchers who have participated in the nearly two decades since the IPCC was founded are Senior Fellows Alan Krupnick, Roger Sedjo, William Pizer, and Richard Morgenstern.
In 2009, an RFF study The State of the Great Outdoors: America's Parks, Public Lands, and Recreation Resources, examined the condition of America’s outdoor resources, the demand for recreation, and the financing of conservation, parks, and open space. It was carried out in conjunction with the Outdoor Resources Review Group, a bipartisan assemblage of public officials, conservation specialists, and recreation professionals.
In 2010, RFF and the National Energy Policy Institute released a comprehensive economic analysis of more than 35 available policy options for reducing U.S. oil consumption and curbing carbon dioxide emissions through 2030. Combining a standardized modeling approach and the judgments of top academic experts from around the country, Toward a New National Energy Policy: Assessing the Options provides a rigorous “apples-to apples” comparison of how different polices rank in terms of such quantitative measures as costs and ability to reduce CO2 emissions and barrels of oil consumed.