Information for Students Wishing to Pursue a PhD in

Environmental and Resource Economics at UCSB

As a field of study, environmental and resource economics concerns the interplay between the economy and the environment.  The field is relatively young, tracing its origins to the early 1960’s.  Within the economics profession, it is most closely allied with public economics and industrial organization.

Environmental economics and resource economics are particularly strong at UCSB.  Major journals in the field are or have been edited here (including the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management).  One of the faculty in the area recently served as the president of the international professional organization in the field – the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE).

In fact, UCSB considers environmental research in general to be a priority for the campus. This is reflected in the number of educational programs on campus, including the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and the Environmental Studies Program, as well as the number of highly ranked research units on campus, including the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Several years ago, Science Watch rated UCSB the #1 university in the United States in environment/ecology, based on citations to articles by faculty.

Pursuing a PhD at UCSB

Environmental and Resource Economics at UCSB bridges both the Department of Economics and the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. The following faculty have current research interests in the area of environment and natural resource economics

Perry Shapiro, Dept. of Economics
Charles Kolstad, Bren School and Dept. of Economics
Robert Deacon, Dept. of Economics
Steve DeCanio, Dept. of Economics
Mary Nisbet, Dept. of Economics
Chris Costello, Bren School and Dept. of Economics
Dennis Aigner, Bren School and Dept. of Economics
Carol McAusland, Dept. of Economics and Bren School

Financial aid for US citizens and permanent residents pursuing a Ph.D. in environmental economics is available through a generous grant from the National Science Foundation.  The grant program provides for three year fellowships which pay $30,000 per year plus most tuition and fees.  Refer to the web page of the Economics and Environmental Science Program.

The Department of Economics Ph.D. program has a field of emphasis in environmental and resource economics. This field requires completion of the sequence:

Econ 260A: Resource Economics
Econ 260B: Environmental Economics
Econ 230B: Public Economics Theory

as well as enrollment in the ongoing workshop in Environmental and Resource Economics, Econ 594ER meets weekly and involves Ph.D. students and faculty active in the field. Attendance is primarily from the Economics Department but also involves people from the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

Need More Information?

If interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in the Economics Department please contact the Department directly (nancy@econ.ucsb.edu). It is also possible to pursue a Ph.D. in the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, with a focus on environmental economics. For more information on a Bren Ph.D., contact the school at betsy@bren.ucsb.edu.