← Economics, Policy & Strategy for the Future College

Policy Analysis & Regulation Department

The Policy Analysis & Regulation Department trains students to critically evaluate energy and environmental policy, regulation, and governance frameworks and to design workable alternatives. Working through real policy cases such as carbon pricing, subsidy reform, and international climate agreements, students master regulatory-impact-analysis methodology, graduating having drafted evidence-based policy recommendations of their own and taken a seat in regulatory-design discussions for sustainable resource management.

⚙️ GeoAcademy System Administration College 🖥️ AI & Computing Sciences College 🔬 Basic Sciences College ⚡ Intelligent Geophysical Exploration College 🛢️ Resource & Energy Engineering College 🌍 Applied Geoscience Solutions College 💼 Economics, Policy & Strategy for the Future College 🎓 Education & Training Development College 🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration College

Energy Economics & Market Analysis Department Policy Analysis & Regulation Department Strategic Planning & Foresight Department Business Development & Ventures Department Future Studies & Technology Foresight Department

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⭐ Simon

Chair

💡 Decision Science & Bounded Rationality

Researchers (real GeoVerse Lab members) 15

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1920–2007

John H. Dales

Researcher

💡 Proposed markets in pollution rights in his 1968 book, founding the theory of cap-and-trade emissions trading later adopted worldwide in carbon markets

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1930–1993

Aaron Wildavsky

Researcher

💡 Founded the systematic discipline of policy analysis and implementation studies, establishing the methodology later used for regulatory impact assessment

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1914–1981

Barbara Ward

Researcher

💡 Co-authored the intellectual framework for the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference and founded the International Institute for Environment and Development, shaping modern global environmental governance

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1932–2019

William D. Ruckelshaus

Researcher

💡 Founded and twice led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, establishing the institutional and risk-based regulatory philosophy for overseeing novel and hazardous technologies

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1907–1995

James Meade

Researcher

💡 Developed welfare-economic theory of distributive justice and the just distribution of gains from economic change, foundational to modern just-transition policy design

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1926–2017

Thomas L. Saaty

Researcher

💡 Invented the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the standard multi-criteria decision analysis method for comparing policy alternatives against conflicting criteria

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1921–2016

Thomas Schelling

Researcher

💡 Founded agent-based modeling of emergent social phenomena through his segregation model and applied game theory to strategic policy bargaining and international negotiation

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1902–1978

Harold Lasswell

Researcher

💡 Founded the policy sciences as a systematic, multi-actor discipline for studying the policy process, establishing the conceptual basis for stakeholder analysis

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1933–2012

Elinor Ostrom

Researcher

💡 Founded the institutional-analysis framework for how communities self-govern shared resources without top-down regulation or full privatization, winning the 2009 Nobel Prize

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1936–2022

Murray Turoff

Researcher

💡 Pioneered computer-mediated communication and networked Delphi methods, scaling structured expert policy consultation into real-time collaborative decision-support systems

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1917–1993

Roland McKean

Researcher

💡 Co-developed the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS) and founded systems analysis-based cost-effectiveness analysis for public expenditure decisions

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1934–2016

Paul MacAvoy

Researcher

💡 Analyzed the economic effects of energy price regulation and led the empirical case for natural gas and electricity market liberalization and subsidy/price-control reform

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1938–2019

Agnar Sandmo

Researcher

💡 Developed the theory of optimal taxation in the presence of externalities, providing the applied public-finance foundation for real-world carbon tax design

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1911–1991

George Stigler

Researcher

💡 Founded the economic theory of regulation and regulatory capture, explaining why regulatory agencies are often captured by the industries they regulate

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1924–2011

Fred Charles Iklé

Researcher

💡 Founded the systematic strategic analysis of how nations negotiate, verify, and comply with international agreements, foundational to designing enforceable climate treaties