Associate Professor

About

  • Role:

    Faculty
  • Position:

    • Associate Professor
    • SOGES Faculty
  • Concentration:

    • Development
    • International
    • Environmental
  • Department:

    • Econ Alumni and Economics
  • Education:

    • 2000 Ph.D. Economics, University College London, University of London, UK

Biography

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research focus on the role of environment and natural resources in sustainable economic development, especially developing countries.  I have a special interest in forest land use, wildlife management, and environmental risk management.  I have undertaken research on the role of international trade on natural resource use and environmental management, including trade in wildlife and forest products.   My research interests also include designing policies to promote sustainable economic development, especially given critical global environmental challenges such as climate change, forest land conversion and biodiversity loss.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Economics offers a range of tools and techniques that can help us understand and manage the critical environment and natural resource challenges that we face today.  I aim to inspire students to learn about how to apply economics to environment, development and sustainability issues.   I explain how and why economic concepts are important to understanding the underlying causes of environment and natural resource problems.  I discuss the role of economic analysis in the formulation of policy solutions to address these problems.  I specialize in teaching undergraduate and graduate students from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as economics students.  I encourage classroom discussion of key concepts and application to real world issues, both local and at the international level.  I aim for students with little or no formal economics training, as well as those with a solid background in economics, to gain an understanding and appreciation of the importance of economics to the global environmental challenges that we face today.

Publications

Journal Articles

Barbier, E.B., J.C. Burgess and T.J. Dean. 2018. “Response – Conservation accord.” Science 360 (6394): 1196-1197. DOI: 10.1126/science.aau1746

Barbier, E.B., J.C. Burgess and T.J. Dean. 2018. “How to pay for saving biodiversity.” Science 360 (6388): 486-488. DOI: 10.1126/science.aar3454

Barbier, E.B. and J.C. Burgess. 2018. “Policies to support environmental risk management in investment decisions.” International Journal of Global Environmental Issue. 17(2/3):117-129.

Barbier, E.B. and J.C. Burgess. 2017. “Innovative Corporate Initiatives to Reduce Climate Risk: Lessons from East Asia.” Sustainability. 10(1): 13 doi:10.3390/su10010013 http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/13

Barbier, E.B. and J.C. Burgess. 2017. “Depletion of the global carbon budget: A user cost approach.” Environment and Development Economics 22(6):658-673. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355770X17000055

Barbier, E.B. and J.C. Burgess. 2017. “Natural Resource Economics, Planetary Boundaries and Strong
Sustainability”. Sustainability. 9(10): 1858. doi:10.3390/su9101858 http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1858

Barbier, E.B. and J.C. Burgess. 2017. “The Sustainable Development Goals and the Systems Approach to Sustainability.” Economics (2017-28):1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2017-28

Barbier, E.B. and J.C. Burgess. 2017. “Economic Principles for ‘Spaceship Earth’”. Resources 194, Spring. http://www.rff.org/research/publications/economic-principles-spaceship-earth

Barbier, E.B., Burgess, J.C. and Grainger, A.  “The Forest Transition: Towards a More Comprehensive Theoretical Framework”, Land Use Policy 27:98-107, 2010.

Courses

  • Econ 240

    Syllabus

    An understanding of economics is important to understanding why problems of environmental degradation occur. This introductory course is designed for students with little or no background in economics. The course examines in detail the relationship between the economy and environmental degradation and management. Basic economic concepts and relationships are covered, such as the demand, supply and efficient allocation of natural resources. Economic values, incentives, institutions and policies governing environmental degradation are also examined. These important building blocks enable us to study and evaluate key environmental problems from an economic perspective and examine in detail a range of management issues and policy responses.