Barry Rabe

Balsillie Scholar   Arthur Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Environmental Policy, University of Michigan   Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Barry Rabe (1)
Balsillie Scholar
Balsillie Scholar

September – October 2025

September – October 2025

Barry Rabe

Balsillie Scholar

Arthur Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Environmental Policy, University of Michigan

Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

brabe@umich.edu

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  University Profile

Barry Rabe studies the durability and performance of environmental and climate policy.  Trained as a political scientist at the University of Chicago, he is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Environmental Policy at the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.   Rabe has received five awards in honor of his research from the American Political Science Association, including the 2025 Elinor Ostrom Award for career contributions to the study of environmental policy.  His current research examines nuclear energy and waste policy, short-lived climate pollutants such as methane and hydrofluorocarbons, and pricing greenhouse gas emissions.

Rabe is currently a non-resident senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a global fellow of the Wahba Initiative for Strategic Competition, and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.   He is the author or co-author of six books and co-edits a leading environmental policy textbook with Michael Kraft that was most recently released in 2025.  Prior books include Trump, the Administrative Presidency, and Federalism (2020), Can We Price Carbon? (2018), Greenhouse Governance (2010), Statehouse and Greenhouse (2004), and Beyond NIMBY (1994).

Rabe regularly advises elected and appointed officials across governmental levels in the United States and Canada.  He has served in formal advisory roles to the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Governor of Oklahoma.  He was the first social scientist to receive an EPA Climate Protection Award and is regularly cited and quoted in the media.

Awards

  • Elinor Ostrom Career Achievement in Environmental Policy Award, American Political Science Association, 2025
  • Distinguished Researcher Award, Networks of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration, 2022
  • Louis Brownlow Best Book Award, National Academy of Public Administration, 2021

Select Publications

  • “Can Democratic Capitalism Protect the Climate?” in Can Democracy and Capitalism Be Reconciled? Sidney Milkis and Scott Harris eds. (Oxford University Press, 2025).
  • “The Politics of Nuclear Waste Management and the Divergent Paths of the United States and Canada,” American Review of Canadian Studies (2025).
  • “Shakedown Federalism and the Nationalization of American Energy Policy,” (Brookings Center for Effective Public Management, 2025).
  • Environmental Policy: New Directions for the 21st Century, 12th edition, co-edited with Michael Kraft and Norman Vig (CQ/SAGE).
  • “American Views on Linking Trade Policy with Climate Performance,” co-authored with Chris Borick (Brookings Center for Regulation and Markets, 2024)
  • “Carbon Pricing Enters Middle Age” (Wilson Center, 2023).
  • Trump, the Administrative Presidency, and Federalism, co-authored with Frank Thompson and Kenneth Wong (Brookings Press, 2020).
  • Can We Price Carbon? (MIT Press, 2018).
  • Statehouse and Greenhouse: The Emerging Politics of American Climate Policy (Brookings Press, 2004).
  • Beyond NIMBY: Siting Hazardous Waste Facilities in the United States and Canada (Brookings Press, 1994).

Education

  • PhD, University of Chicago, 1985