Resources for the Future

In 1952, a presidential commission mandated the creation of a research institution to examine the nation’s use of natural resources and implications for the future of the US economy and national security. RFF was founded as a result—the first think tank devoted exclusively to natural resource and environmental issues. The organization’s notable contributions include pioneering and developing the fields of environmental and resource economics, creating analytical techniques widely used in economic and policy analysis, producing landmark surveys of America’s energy and resource future, and crafting policy innovations that are now embodied in environmental, energy, and natural resource regulatory regimes around the world.