Environmental and Resource Economics

Overview

A field in environmental and resource economics allows a Ph.D. candidate to develop expertise in the application of economics to problems of environmental and natural resource use and policy. Boundaries of the field are sufficiently flexible to enable the student to achieve depth in theory, analytical techniques or subject matter. In completing the requirements of the field, a student is expected to acquire an understanding of the historical and institutional components of environmental and resource economics, a working knowledge of contemporary natural resource and environmental policy, and an expertise in the elements of economic theory that are particularly relevant to natural resource and environmental issues.

Faculty

Faculty in this area have special expertise in land use, the economics of food safety, ecological economics, evaluation of the impacts of private or public actions on environmental resources (using such techniques as contingent valuation), and policy design to achieve environmental objectives.

Course Program

Course work in the field allows the student to develop advanced skills in the analytical methods used in environmental and resource economics research. Such methods include optimal control theory, policy evaluation under uncertainty, techniques of non-market valuation, hedonic analysis as applied to the pricing and provision of multi-attribute goods, and location theory. Courses focus on theories of environmental and natural resource economics, and their application to current issues of policy importance. These courses attract students from other departments.

Resource and environmental economics as an area of concentration in the Department of Agricultural Economics is also linked to an interdepartmental graduate specialization in environmental and resource economics at MSU. This specialization is directed by economists from the Departments of Agricultural Economics, Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife, and Community, Agriculture, Resource, and Recreation Studies (CARRS). By fulfilling its requirements, students may receive formal transcript certification indicating that a specialization in environmental and resource economics has been accomplished. For the most part, this specialization will not involve additional course work beyond that required for agricultural economics. For more information, see http://grad.msu.edu/ere/erespecial.htm

MSU's recently established Environmental Science and Policy Program also sponsors a doctoral specialization in environmental science and policy. For more information on the ESP Program, and for links to all doctoral programs with environmental content at MSU, see http://environment.msu.edu.

Research

Major research projects have focused on consumer perceptions of risk associated with pesticide use, evaluation of the benefits of improved water quality, analysis of economic incentives to achieve public policy objectives, prevention and control of invasive alien species, infectious disease in wildlife, corporate environmental management, recreational demand modeling, and improvements in theory and empirical methods. (See environmental economics research page.)

Course List

The main courses for the field are the first three listed below. A Ph.D. major field in Environmental and Resource Economics must include the two courses indicated with an asterisk, along with one of three 900-level courses in the Advanced Agricultural Economics minor field: AEC 925–Advanced Natural Resource Economics, AEC 930–Dynamic Analysis in Agriculture and Natural Resources, and AEC 932–Information Economics and Institutions in Agriculture and Natural Resources. A Ph.D. minor field in Environmental and Resource Economics may consist of any two of the first three courses below. Optional but relevant AEC courses are shown in square brackets.

Courses of Interest in Other Departments

EC 836 Public Revenues
EC 835 Public Expenditures
FOR 866 Economics of Renewable Resources
FW 419 Applications of Geographic Information Systems to Natural Resources Management
FW 852 Systems Modeling and Simulation
FW 853 Applied Systems Modeling and Simulation for Natural Resource Management
FW 854 Adaptive Management of Natural Resource Systems
FW 892 Biodiversity
GEO 425 Geographic Information Systems
RD 460 Resource and Environmental Economics
RD 824 Watershed Management
RD 832 Environmental and Natural Resource Law
RD 838 Land Use Law

Faculty List

• Sandra S. Batie, Elton R. Smith Professor in Food and Agricultural Policy; Ph.D., Oregon State, 1973; agricultural, environmental, and natural resource policy.
• Zhengfei Guan, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Wageningen, 2005 agricultural finance, econometrics.
• production economics, firm performance measurement.
• John P. Hoehn, Professor; Ph.D., Kentucky, 1983; environmental and natural resource economics, nonmarket valuation, benefit-cost analysis.
• Richard D. Horan, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State, 1997; environmental and natural resource economics and policy; controlling nonpoint pollution; "green" accounting.
• Satish V. Joshi, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon, 1998; environmental life cycle analysis, impact of environmental regulations on industry competitiveness, benefit-cost analysis.
• Scott Loveridge, Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1988; economic development policy, land use, community systems, regional economics.
• Frank Lupi, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1997; recreation demand and valuation; water resource economics; fisheries and wildlife economics.
• Patricia E. Norris, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1988; land resource economics, land use, environmental policy.
• Robert S. Shupp, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., in Economics, Indiana University, 2000; Experimental Economics; Industrial Organization; Risk and Uncertainity.
• Scott M. Swinton, Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1991; production economics; bioeconomic models, firm-level environmental impacts.
• Paul B. Thompson, W. K. Kellogg Professor in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics; Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1980; pragmatism in practical ethics, risks and ethics of agricultural and food biotechnology, philosophy of technology and economics.

(Web pages for faculty, organized by field)