Nathan W. Chan Co-Authors Working Paper on Environmental & Racial Justice

Content

Nathan W. Chan, resource economics, has coauthored a working paper highlighting some of the ways in which traditional scholarly work in environmental and natural resource (ENRE) economics may be affected by and can unintentionally further racial inequity. From the abstract: 

"We discuss four channels through which these effects may occur: (1) prioritization of efficiency over distribution, (2) inattention to procedural justice, (3) abstraction from crucial historical or social contexts, and (4) a narrow focus on problems perceived as tractable. We offer specific examples of how racial inequity may be furthered by work in the field through welfare and valuation methods, policy modeling choices, and treatment of the commons. We document opportunities to improve the field by better considering how racial inequity may affect and be affected by ENRE analysis. ENRE scholars have tools that can mitigate systemic racism in access to natural resources and a clean environment, but work must be done to realize that potential."