Environmental Economics

Environmental economics is a vibrant strength of the department, benefitting from world-renowned faculty and a collaboration with the Department of Resource and Agricultural Economics. University Distinguished Professor Edward Barbier is currently the top-ranked science researcher for career-long citations in the subfield of Agricultural Economics and Policy and a regular contributor to United Nations conversations on rebuilding a green, sustainable global economy.

The Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis, co-directed by Professor Sammy Zahran, conducts environmental assessment and modeling as part of research in a variety of disaster management areas.

Recent research topics include theoretical work discounting future outcomes in the economics of climate change, empirical work tracking the health consequences of legacy lead pollution, and contingent valuation studies of rare cultural resources. Additionally, our environmental faculty are working with regional economists to develop a computable general equilibrium model to analyze state-level policy questions related to the deployment of renewable energy sources in Colorado.