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This study examines the effect of Utah's Greenbelt program, the state's preferential tax‐assessment effort to protect farmland, using an instrumental variable‐fixed effects strategy. We find that an unintended effect of the program leads to more conversion of agricultural land to development than the protection it provides. The protection effect is concentrated on parcels with smaller agricultural areas, while conversion occurs on parcels with larger agricultural areas. Our findings shed light on the rationale of a proposed amendment to the policy—Utah House Bill 25—which did not pass during the 2016 legislative session. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address the often contentious debate over state and local recycling policy by carefully estimating the social net benefit of curbside recycling. Benefits are estimated using household survey data from over 4,000 households across 40 western U.S. cities. We calibrate household willingness to pay for hypothetical bias using an innovative experimental design that contrasts stated and revealed preferences. Cost estimates are compiled from previous studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Institute for Local Self Reliance, and from in depth interviews with recycling coordinators in our sampled cities. Across our sample of cities, we find that the estimated mean social net benefit of curbside recycling is almost exactly zero. On a city-by-city basis, however, our social netbenefit analysis often makes clear predictions about whether a curbside recycling program is an efficient use of resources. Surprisingly, several curbside recycling programs in our sample appear to be inefficient.

Strategies to address misinformation and hesitancy about vaccines, including the fear of needles, and to overcome obstacles to access, such as the refrigeration that some vaccines demand, strongly suggest the need to develop new vaccine delivery technologies. But, given widespread distrust surrounding vaccination, these new technologies must be introduced to the public with the utmost transparency, care, and community involvement. Two emerging technologies, one a skin‐patch vaccine and the other a companion dye and detector, provide excellent examples of greatly improved delivery technologies for which such a careful approach should be developed in order to increase vaccine uptake. Defusing fears and conspiracy mongering must be a key part of their rollout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]