Envelope Backs or the Gold Standard? Choosing the Accuracy of Damage Assessment Methods
研究政府受托人在自然资源损害评估中选择评估准确性的决策，以及企业如何据此调整预防措施，发现最优准确性随预期损害价值增加而提高，并提出了减少小规模泄漏损害的政策建议。
<i>Government trustees conduct natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs) to hold firms liable for damages caused by their pollution. We analyze a model in which a trustee chooses NRDA accuracy and a firm chooses precaution in response, where increased NRDA accuracy increases expense but decreases the chance that the firm evades damage payment. We find that optimal NRDA accuracy increases with the expected value of the damages. Other results help trustees design welfare-improving regimes to reduce damages from small spills, and identify policy changes and research that can increase social welfare in the NRD arena.</i>