AERE

Turning discussion into change
Meet the researcher economist who believes in change. Kathy Segerson is leading an association that generates and fosters discussion about various hot topics in the field of environmental and resource economics.

Founded in 1979, the Association of Environmen­tal and Resource Economists (AERE) was formed on the premise of sharing and exchanging infor­mation for the purposes of research, teaching, public policy and generally, raising awareness.

The field of environmental economics emerged as a sub-field within economics over 30 years ago. Prior to that there might have been people work­ing on research on resource use but, as a field, environmental economics solidified in the 1970s in response to a number of environmentally-related events that occurred around that time. In 1962, an influential book written by Rachel Carson was published which brought to surface issues like the environmental effects of pesticides. In the 1970s, the U.S. EPA was formed, and this sub-field within economics was formed. Even then, it was quite small and very new.

Today, there are well over 900 members, mostly from the academic community, including individuals, university and student members. Many of the members, however, are individuals who work in the profession in research and aca­demia, as well as the public and private sector, and think tanks.

“We share info, organizing sessions to pres­ent ideas at scholarly meetings. There’s an opportunity for discussion and feedback, as well as fostering improved research,” says Segerson, President of AERE. “We’re not an advocacy group or lobbying group; we’re devoted to teaching, our research and promoting of use of ideas and prin­ciples from environmental and resource econom­ics to improve public policy,” states Segerson.

Great awareness brought issues to the forefront

With the general awareness of environmental is­sues built up over the past 10 years by research, public policy and activism, issues that were once sidelined have become an integral part of eco­nomics. A key issue within environmental eco­nomics is whether or not it is better to go with a cap and trade approach or pick a carbon tax. That’s a hot issue with quite a bit of interest in the sector and field.
“Part of the debate that has been occur­ring is to what extent public policy should rely on incentives, such as those created under the cap and trade program,” explains Segerson. The cap and trade program was on the agenda with negotiators and officials at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December.

Proactive approach supported by members

Since its inception, AERE has had an informal association with the American Economics As­sociation and the American Agricultural Eco­nomics Association (now the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). With the inau­guration of the European Association of Envi­ronmental and Resource Economists in 1992, AERE expanded its affiliations to include this organization, and more recently has sponsored paper sessions at the annual meetings of or­ganizations such as the Southern Economics Association and the Western Economic Associa­tion International. Now, they are taking issues to the global stage for concrete discussions among international policy makers.

When asked where the association stood on the proposals put forward at Copenhagen by the Obama administration, Segerson believes that the majority of the association’s members would be in favor of doing something to address reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “In that sense, I think there would be support for the U.S. being more proactive than it was under the Bush administration,” says Segerson.

“I think many would be pleased to see the Obama administration move in that direction—in taking climate change more seriously—by trying to address it,” she reaffirms. While there are still some differences of opinion on whether a cap or carbon tax is the best way to go, the fact that discussions are moving forward is at least, a positive sign to the association’s members.

Ecosystem services a key issue

Interestingly, there has been a lot of recognition in the past decade or so about the role ecosys­tems play in supporting human life and our activi­ties, as has the need to include the contributions of ecosystems into the economic equation.

“This discussion was initiated by the Millen­nium Ecosystem Assessment in the early 2000s, a UN sanctions report, looking at the degrada­tion of ecosystems,” explains Segerson, adding a number of members are working on the provision and evaluation of ecosystem services. These experts work in a specialized field and do what’s called ‘valuation’ or valuing to show or demon­strate in an economic sense how important or valuable those ecosystem services are so people become more concerned about protecting them.

Another group within the organization is concerned about agricultural pollution and other kinds of water pollution from nutrients from agriculture, as well as in the residential areas. “Researchers are working on policies to reduce those pollutants entering water bodies or looking at the impact regionally as well as interregion­ally,” tells Segerson.

Other members, however, are more heavily involved at the policy level for which the associa­tion does recognize those who make outstanding contributions. “We just honored Robert Stavins with an AERE Fellow Award. Rob is a Harvard economist and has been involved in discussions on cap and trade, including the proposals that have been made internationally but also within the Senate. He also writes a blog to provide eco­nomic analysis and advice about related issues,” says Segerson.

Future outlook

While Segerson doesn’t see the issue of climate change going away, there will be changes in the field of environmental and resource economics. “I’m sure there will continue to be a number of people who are involved in the field. But I think we need to do more,” tells Segerson. “One of these things is to work broadly across disciplines, working with ecologists, atmospheric scientists and hydrologists, because clearly most environ­mental issues have an economic dimension; combining the biophysical or natural science perspective with the social sciences/economic perspective is something that is being pushed in universities and think tanks,” she says. This is the way they see things moving forward and get­ting greener in the future. AB

www.aere.org

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg | NewsVine | Mixx | FaceBook | Twitter