What Appears Obvious Is Not Necessarily So

摘要

This extraordinarily well-written, well-researched article by Michael Livermore and Ricky Revesz ("the authors") makes a significant contribution to the literature and public policy debates by challenging conventional wisdom-namely, that health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are more stringent (and hence more protective) than those that would be set were we to consider the costs of achieving those standards.1 The authors carefully, and to my mind convincingly, debunk the idea that health-based standards are necessarily more protective than those that might be based on cost/ benefit analysis (CBA) or other economic considerations, providing facts rather than unsubstantiated rhetoric. This information is new and it is dramatic.