Douglas Carr is a new professor of political science at OU.

By Sarah Malczynski, student writer

Douglas Carr, assistant professor of political science, recently received an honorable mention from the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) for his dissertation, “Environmental Regulatory Policy: Political Economy, Industrial Geography, and Intergovernmental Fiscal Effects.” He presented the dissertation at the APPAM’s national conference Thursday, Nov. 8 in Washington D.C.

Carr came to Oakland University from the Martin Public Policy School at the University of Kentucky, one of the top-rated schools of public administration and public policy in the United States. Carr’s undergraduate studies were in mathematics and environmental science and his graduate work was completed in public administration. Much of his research is on education policy, but his teaching expertise includes research methods, public economics, budgeting and finance, government information systems, and environmental policy.

Carr’s dissertation analyzes both the political economy of federal environmental regulations and the empirical effects of ozone regulations under the Clean Air Act. His research shows that revenues and expenditures decline in regulated population centers, while they increase in surrounding areas. “Some industries that contribute to air pollution have decided to relocate and that has resulted in better air quality for that specific region,” he said.

Carr also questions in his dissertation the function of general federal public policies at a local level. “Why would we have a national environmental policy that regulates what goes on in specific localities?” he theorized. “For example, we have regulations that take care of garbage collections for local cities, but we don’t have a federal regulation that requires local cities/counties to maintain garbage collection.”

Carr currently teaches courses in Environmental Policy and American Public Policy at OU.