My academic interests are primarily in environmental economics and institutional economics. Environmental economics is the application of economic analysis to problems of the environment; my major interest here is in the design of environmental policies and regulations that are more effective than those we have relied on to date. I have a long-run interest in the economics of property rights, dealing with the question of how different systems of property rights lead people to behave differently with respect to the use of environmental and natural resources. Recently I have been looking at the problem of economic growth in the developing world and the role of natural resources in that process.
Significant Publications
Environmental Economics: An Introduction, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, 2006, (with Martha K. Field).
Natural Resource Economics: An Introduction, McGraw-Hill, 2001. (Reprinted by Waveland Press, 2008).
Environmental Policy: An Introduction, Waveland Press, 2006.
"Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth," Land Economics, Vol. 81, 2005, pp 496-502.
"The Evolution of Property Rights", Kyklos, Vol. 42, 1989, pp. 319-345.
Recent Activities
My major teaching responsibilities are in environmental economics and natural resource economics. I also teach a course in environmental policy within the UMass Environmental Sciences Program. When I am not at the University I am either at home taking care of a couple of energetic youngsters, or at the airport flying a vintage Cessna taildragger.