David Robinson

Senior Research Fellow

David Robinson is a consulting economist advising on public policy and corporate strategy. With OIES, he is presently completing a book on US energy and climate change policy. David is also one of the lead authors (with Benito Muller and Zhang Xiliang) of the forthcoming OIES-Tsinghua University report on Sino-European collaboration in the energy sector, which proposes a "joint commitment framework agreement" to lower CO2 emissions in the Chinese power sector. David is a Principal of The Brattle Group of economic and financial consultants. He is on the Board of Regents of St. Louis University in Madrid, where he has his own firm (David Robinson & Associates). Previously he was a Director at NERA and an advisor to the International Energy Agency (IEA). He wrote his doctoral dissertation at Oxford University on the vertical disintegration of the international petroleum industry.

Publications available from the Institute online bookshop

sorted by date, most recent first

Addressing Large Developing Country Emissions: The Case for Strategic Sino-European Collaboration under Joint Commitments
by Benito Müller, David Robinson, and Zhang Xiliang, 2010. EV53 [0MB]

To place an order for one of our print publications, visit our secure server

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.

close this window