Damages

About: Damages is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9365 publications have been published within this topic receiving 89750 citations. The topic is also known as: compensation award.

Estimation of regional air-quality damages from Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania

Abstract: This letter provides a first-order estimate of conventional air pollutant emissions, and the monetary value of the associated environmental and health damages, from the extraction of unconventional shale gas in Pennsylvania. Region-wide estimated damages ranged from $7.2 to $32 million dollars for 2011. The emissions from Pennsylvania shale gas extraction represented only a few per cent of total statewide emissions, and the resulting statewide damages were less than those estimated for each of the state's largest coal-based power plants. On the other hand, in counties where activities are concentrated, NOx emissions from all shale gas activities were 20–40 times higher than allowable for a single minor source, despite the fact that individual new gas industry facilities generally fall below the major source threshold for NOx. Most emissions are related to ongoing activities, i.e., gas production and compression, which can be expected to persist beyond initial development and which are largely unrelated to the unconventional nature of the resource. Regulatory agencies and the shale gas industry, in developing regulations and best practices, should consider air emissions from these long-term activities, especially if development occurs in more populated areas of the state where per-ton emissions damages are significantly higher.

Impossibility and Related Doctrines in Contract Law: An Economic Analysis

Abstract: O RDINARILY the failure of one party to a contract to fulfill the performance required of him constitutes a breach of contract for which he is liable in damages to the other party. But sometimes the failure to perform is excused and the contract is said to be discharged rather than breached. This study uses economic theory to investigate three closely related doctrines in the law of contracts that operate to discharge a contract: "impossibility," "impracticability," and "frustration." These are not the only excuses for nonperformance of a contract. Among other excuses, not discussed in this study, is the closely related doctrine of mutual mistake (sometimes called "antecedent impossibility"). Also related, and only incidentally discussed herein, is the doctrine of Hadley v. Baxendale1 limiting the liability of the breaching party to the foreseeable damages of the breach. There is an extensive legal literature on the set of doctrines that, for want of a more inclusive term, we shall sometimes lump together under the name "impossibility." The main conclusions of this literature are summarized in Part IA, next, while Part IB analyzes the subject from the standpoint of economics.2 Part II applies the economic analysis to the leading cases and

Uncertainty and variability in health-related damages from coal-fired power plants in the United States.

Abstract: The health-related damages associated with emissions from coal-fired power plants can vary greatly across facilities as a function of plant, site, and population characteristics, but the degree of variability and the contributing factors have not been formally evaluated. In this study, we modeled the monetized damages associated with 407 coal-fired power plants in the United States, focusing on premature mortality from fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We applied a reduced-form chemistry-transport model accounting for primary PM2.5 emissions and the influence of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions on secondary particulate formation. Outputs were linked with a concentration-response function for PM2.5related mortality that incorporated nonlinearities and model uncertainty. We valued mortality with a value of statistical life approach, characterizing and propagating uncertainties in all model elements. At the median of the plant-specific uncertainty distributions, damages across plants ranged from $30,000 to $500,000 per ton of PM2.5, $6,000 to $50,000 per ton of SO2, $500 to $15,000 per ton of NOx, and $0.02 to $1.57 per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. Variability in damages per ton of emissions was almost entirely explained by population exposure per unit emissions (intake fraction), which itself was related to atmospheric conditions and the population size at various distances from the power plant. Variability in damages per kilowatt-hour was highly correlated with SO2 emissions, related to fuel and control technology characteristics, but was also correlated with atmospheric conditions and population size at various distances. Our findings emphasize that control strategies that consider variability in damages across facilities would yield more efficient outcomes.

When does the rule of liability matter

Abstract: The active interface between law and economics has been limited largely to antitrust and regulation, but recent work, primarily in economics, has revealed a much wider area of common interest. The law, reasoning that crops stand in the way of a neighbor's cattle, can leave the farmer to bear the cost of crop damage; alternatively, reasoning that cattle stray errantly across farm fields, the law can assign liability for crop damages to ranchers. The question of long-run considerations has been raised because it would seem that different liability rules would alter the profitability of remaining inside or outside each industry. Once significant transacting or negotiating cost is admitted into the analysis, the choice of liability rule will have effects on resource allocation, and it no longer follows that wealth distribution is the main or even an important consideration in choosing the liability rule.