David Robinson

Senior Research Fellow

David Robinson is a consulting economist specialising on liberalisation of the energy sector and other sectors where competition and economic regulation co-exist. Currently, through his own firm and with others, he advises clients on public policy and corporate strategy, especially related to energy and climate change. He spent 18 years with National Economic Research Associates (NERA), an international firm of micro-economic consultants where he was the co-Chair of European Operations and of the Global Energy and Telecom Practices. Prior to NERA, he worked at the International Energy Agency (IEA) and wrote his doctoral dissertation at Oxford University on the vertical disintegration of the international petroleum industry. He is also on the teaching faculty and the Board of Regents of St Louis University in Madrid. He is currently writing a book on the subject of US energy and climate change policies.

US Energy and Climate Change Policies

David Robinson is writing a book on the subject of US energy and climate change policies. The book provides an analytical framework for understanding the development of these policies, as well as their implications. Basically, it argues that energy (security) and climate change have provided a powerful argument to support government intervention: namely “market failures”, both real and imaginary. Government direction on key decisions, such as the choice of technology for new electricity generation plant, undermines the basic logic of market liberalisation, which was to shift risks and decision making to the competitive market. The challenge is now to avoid costly “policy failures” which are significantly greater than the market failures they seek to redress. The book analyses policies and policy proposals at municipal, state, regional and federal levels in the US. It identifies actual and likely winners and losers, opportunities for investors and how these policies affect international energy markets and negotiations over climate change. It also assesses what role can and should be played by markets and market mechanisms in this new policy-driven paradigm.

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