Education & Professional History
Earlham College, BA; Stanford University, MA, PhD
Chair, Department of Economics, Carleton College, 1995-1998, 2020-present
Wadsworth A. Williams Professor of Economics, Carleton College, 2016-present
Professor, Department of Economics, Carleton College, 2000-present
Visiting Scholar, Ostrom Workshop, Indiana University, Bloomington, Fall 2019
Julian Simon Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center, Bozeman, MT, Summer 2014
Jacobs Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, Summer 2011
Ada M. Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of the Social Sciences, Carleton College, 2008-2011
Director, Environmental Studies, Carleton College, 2008-2011
Associate Director, Environmental and Technology Studies, Carleton College, 2006-2008
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Carleton College, 1993-2000
Visiting Scholar, Center for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University, Winter 1995
Ciriacy-Wantrup Fellow in Natural Resource Economics, UC-Berkeley, 1989-1991
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Stanford University, Fall 1989
Visiting Assistant Professor, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Fall 1988
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Carleton College, 1987-1993
Instructor, Department of Economics, Carleton College, 1985-1987
Lecturer, Department of Economics, Stanford University, Summer 1984
At Carleton since 1985.
Highlights & Recent Activity
Visiting Scholar, Ostrom Workshop, Indiana University, Bloomington, Fall 2019
Julian Simon Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center, Bozeman, MT, summer 2014
Jacobs Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, Summer, 2011
National Science Foundation, Economics Program Grant, 2000
American Philosophical Society, Sabbatical Fellowship, 1999
Organizations & Scholarly Affiliations
American Economic Association
Economic History Association
Western Economic Association
Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics
Affiliate, Ostrom Workshop, Indiana University
My research interests are in institutional economics, law and economics, economic history, and public choice, as applied primarily to the study of natural resources and the environment.
Selected Publications
Natural Resources and the Environment: Economics, Law, Politics, and Institutions. London: Routledge, Forthcoming(2021)
“Local consequences of climate change: State park visitations on the North Shore of Minnesota,” Water Resources and Economics (February 2018) (with Bruce Wilson and Kerry Holmberg)
Research Methods for Environmental Studies: A Social Science Approach. London: Routledge, 2017.
“Shifting Demand for Winter Outdoor Recreation and Tourism along the North Shore of Lake Superior under Variable Rates of Climate Change: A Finite-Mixture Modeling Approach,” Ecological Economics 123(2016): 1-13. (with Jordan W. Smith, Erin Seekamp, Allie McCreary, Mae Davenport, Kerry Holmberg, Bruce Wilson, and John Nieber)
Golden Rules: The Origins of California Water Law in the Gold Rush. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.
“Taxation with(?) Representation: The Political Economy of Public Finance in Antebellum California,” Research in Economic History(2008): 205-33.
“Investment in Private Water Development: Property Rights and Contractual Opportunism during the California Gold Rush,” Explorations in Economic History 43(2)(2006): 357-81.
“Immigration, Exclusion, and Taxation: Anti-Chinese Legislation in Gold Rush California,” Journal of Economic History 65(September 2005): 779-805.
“Origins of Common-Law Restrictions on Water Transfers: Groundwater Law in Early California,” Journal of Legal Studies(January 2003): 153-80.
“Discrimination in Professional Basketball: Evidence from Nielsen Ratings,” Economic Inquiry (October 2001). (with Jonas Funk)
“Efficiency in Western Water Law: The Development of the California Doctrine, 1850-1911,” Journal of Legal Studies(January 1998).
“Possession is Nine Points of the Law: The Political Economy of Early Public Land Disposal,” Explorations in Economic History (June 1996).
“The Origins of State Railroad Regulation: The Illinois Constitution of 1870,” in The Regulated Economy: A Historical Approach to Political Economy, C. Goldin and G.D. Libecap(eds.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. (with Roger G. Noll)
“Water Subsidies, Water Transfers, and Economic Efficiency,” Contemporary Economic Policy (April 1994).
“Pricing Subsidies and Economic Efficiency: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,” Journal of Law and Economics (April 1993).
“Econometric Estimation of Groundwater Pumping Costs: A Simultaneous Equations Approach,” Water Resources Research (June 1992).
“Water Quality and the Economic Efficiency of Appropriative Water Rights,” in The Economics and Management of Drainage in Agriculture, A. Dinar and D. Zilberman (eds.). Kluwer, 1991.
International folk dancing, baseball, hiking, Scrabble, and ancient and Renaissance history
