I had originally written my Ph.D. on the money demand function (see monetary economics link if curious about that work), but after publishing a few articles, began, perhaps because of the times (early '70s), getting interested in environmental economics.  This led to my going to the University of Chicago in the mid-70's to work on an NSF project under the direction of George S. Tolley (not only a good economist, but a good person), called "Environmental Pollutants and the Urban Economy."  It was at this time and shortly thereafter that many of the following books and articles were written.  It was also at this time that I got interested in urban economics (see urban/regional link).
    The connecting thread, incidentally, between urban and environmental economics is the important spatial nature common to both.  That is, "nearness to things" provides the foundation for understanding why urban areas are as they are (e.g. rents are high in downtown areas since people want to be near their jobs--this, in turn, causes developers to economize on expensive land, building up rather than out; thus the "shape" of cities).  Similarly, the benefits and costs of dealing with pollution damages depend greatly on where the pollution occurs (e.g. a cornfield in the Midwest or downtown Denver or the Everglades).  Note that the value of a clean environment can (sometimes, under certain conditions) be inferred from how much people pay to occupy clean locations--hence, like nearness to the central workplace, locations offering clean air will rent and sell for more in urban areas.
    A very recent line of research, some of it co-authored with Nick Flores here at C.U., involves a clarification and restatement of the conditions for the optimal provision of public goods.  The intuition is quite simple.  As Samuelson noted in a classic 1954 article, it is not profitable to provide certain types of goods for sale in ordinary private markets.  So-called "public goods" (e.g. the light from a lighthouse, the existence value of a species, clean air over a city) are not profitable to provide in optimal quantities because people will realize that they can have the goods, whether they pay or not.  If the good exists, nobody can stop them from enjoying it (e.g. saving the blue whale benefits those that care, whether they contribute or not).  It is in their interest to be "free riders," not offering to pay and just waiting until the good comes into existence.  However, this creates a problem; since many, if not most, people will attempt to free ride, the good does not get provided!  Its costs to the provider end up being more than the provider can get from the "free riders" who enjoy it.
    This suggests a role for the government in providing such goods.  There are, of course, difficulties in determining how much of the goods to provide (which species do we "save," or how much clean air do we provide in American cities, etc.), since it is not easy to know how much people value such goods in a world where we cannot observe their purchases.  Much research effort has been devoted to determining how important marginal increases in such goods are.
    There is, however, an additional problem that has heretofore not been recognized.  Those who desire large quantities of ordinary goods (warm houses, fast cars, fine restaurant food, travel, etc.), inevitably realize that, if they are to obtain the goods they want, they must obtain the income with which to buy them.  But, suppose the goods that you really care for are "public goods," like clean air or species preservation?  You will know, of course, that how much income you individually obtain will have no bearing on how much of the public good is produced...you are too small to matter in that collective decision.  So, you will fail to generate income (get an education with a big monetary payoff, work long hours on your job, etc.) because doing that can't get you what you want.  So, you just "buy" more leisure (or even "drop out" in the parlance of the '60s).  Hence, overall aggregate income is too small, and all of that income would, under "independence," have gone to expenditure on public goods, like environmental quality.  Articles eleven through thirteen below elaborate on this problem.
    These brief paragraphs hints at the themes in the following books and articles:
 

BOOKS:

1. Environmental Policy: Elements of Environmental Analysis. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1981, 203 pp.  (with G.S. Tolley and G.C. Blomquist, co-editors and Co-authors).

2. Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982, 432 pp. (with G.S. Tolley and A.S. Cohen).

3. Health and Air Quality: Evaluating the Effects of Policy. Washington: American Enterprise Institute Studies in Economic Policy, AEI, 1981, 163 pp. (with R.J. Krumm).

4. The Economics of Environmental Quality. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2nd Edition, 1986, 368 pp. (with E.S. Mills).

5. Environmental Economics: A Critique of Benefit-Cost Analysis. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, 187pp.

ARTICLES:

1. "Morbidity and Pollution." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Vol. 9, No. 4 (December 1982), pp. 311-327 (with R.J. Krumm).

2. "Hedonic Analysis in a Spatial Context: Theoretical Problems in Valuing Location-Specific Amenities." Economic Record, Vol. 61, No. 175 (December 1985), pp. 737-743 (with T.A. Knapp).

3. "The Robustness of Hedonic Price Estimation: Urban Air Quality." Land Economics, Vol. 63, no. 3 (August 1988), pp. 220-233 (with J. Murdock, M. Thayer, and D. Waldman).

4. "On Mandatory Deposits, Fines, and the Control of Litter." The Natural Resources Journal, Vol. 28, no. 4 (Fall 1988), pp. 837-847 (with D. Lee and R. Sexton).

5. "Controlling the Abandonment of Automobiles: Mandatory Deposits vs. Fines." Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 31, No. 1 (January 1992), pp. 14-24 (with D. Lee and R. Sexton).

6. "Air Quality Maintenance: Proposed Legislation and Analytical Issues." Journal of Environmental Systems, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1977-1978), pp. 45-58 (with D. Santini).

7. "Air Pollution and Morbidity: SO2 Damages." Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association, Vol. 28, No. 8 (August 1978), pp. 785-789 (with G. Fishelson).

8. "Benefits of Pollution Control: The SO2 Case." Journal of Environmental Systems, Vol. 9, No. 3 (1979-1980), pp. 231-257 (with G. Fishelson).

9. "Are Natural Hazards Temporally Random?" Applied Geography, Vol. 5, No. 1, (January 1985), pp. 5-12 (with Anne Bresnock).

10. "Alternative Fishery Management Policies: Monitoring Costs Versus Catch Limits," Environmental and Resource Economics, 4, pp. 595-598 (1994) (with R. Sexton, D. Lee, S. Jackstadt)

11. ""Nonoptimal Levels of Suburbanization" Environment and Planning A, Vol. 35, No. 2 (February, 2003), pp. 191-198. 

13. "A Theoretical Model Predicting the WTA-WTP Disparity: Public Policy Implications" (manuscript under review).

14. "Value Uncertainty and Diverging Measures of Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept" (with P. Mueser, J. Dow, manuscript under review).

15. "Environmental Perceptions and Environmental Reality: When More Is Less," Environment and Planning, A, (Commentary section) Vol. 35, No. 6 (June, 2003), pp. 951-954. 

16. "Valuing Public Goods," Challenge: The Magazine of Economic Affairs, Vol. 46, No. 5 (September-October 2003), pp.100-112.

17.  "A Note on the Valuation of Collective Goods: Overlooked Input Market Free Riding forNon-Individually Incrementable Goods," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol. 9 : Iss. 1 (Topics) Article 5 (2009).

18.  "On The Social Rate of Discount: Implications of an Input Market Failure to Generate Optimal Income"  (in progress)

19.  "Evidence of Systematic Downward Bias in Environmental Valuation" (in progress)
 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOOKS:

19. "The Environment: Methodology and Approach." Chapter 1 in Environmental Policy: Elements of Environmental Analysis. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1981 (with G.S. Tolley and G.C. Blomquist), pp. 1-21.

20. "Benefits from Pollution Abatement." Chapter 5 of Environmental Policy: Elements of Environmental Analysis. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1981 (with G.S. Tolley and G.C. Blomquist), pp. 92-117.

21. "Location and Environmental Analysis." Chapter 6 of Environmental Policy: Elements of Environmental Analysis. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1981 (with G.S. Tolley), pp. 118-144.

22. "Toward Improved Environmental Policy." Chapter 8 of Environmental Policy: Elements of Environmental Analysis. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982 (with G.S. Tolley and A.S. Cohen), pp. 1-11.

23. "Air Quality: Methodology and Approach." Chapter 1 of Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982 (with G.S. Tolley and A.S. Cohen), pp. 1-11.

24. "Issues in Health Benefit Measurement." Chapter 3 of Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982 (with R.J. Krumm and D.M. Violette), pp. 27-116.

25. "Interactions and Nonlinearities in Air Pollution Damages." Chapter 4 of Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982 (with R.J. Krumm), pp. 117-140.

26. "Estimation of Damage Coefficients: The SO2 Example." Chapter 5 of Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982 (with G. Fishelson), pp. 141-152.

27. "Total Benefits: The Use of Coal in Electricity." Chapter 6 of Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger 1982 (with G.S. Tolley and R.L. Sexton), pp. 153-170.

28. "Toward Improved Air Pollution Policy." Chapter 17 of Environmental Policy: Air Quality. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1982 (with G.S. Tolley and D.M. Violette), pp. 365-421.

29. "Aesthetics." Chapter 7 of Measuring the Demand for Environmental Quality, J. Braden and C. Kolstad (eds), North-Holland Contributions to Economic Analysis Series, pp. 213-226, 1991.

30. "The Hedonic Method: Value of Statistical Life, Wage Compensation, and Property Value Compensation," Chapter 13 of Research Tools in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, A. Batabyal and P. Nijkamp (eds), World Scientific (forthcoming).

31. "Environmental Valuation: The Sum of Specific Damages Approach," Chapter 14 of Research Tools in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, A. Batabyal and P. Nijkamp (eds), World Scientific (forthcoming).

REVIEWS, AND OTHER RESEARCH:

1. "Framework for Evaluating the Economic Effects of an Air Pollution Control Plan." Proceedings of the 69th Annual Meeting of the Air Pollution Control Association, June 1976 (with G.S. Tolley).

2. "What has Been Learned About Air Pollution Control?" Proceedings of the 69th Annual Meeting of the Air Pollution Control Association, June 1976 (with G.S. Tolley).

3. "Morbidity and Pollution." University of Colorado Discussion Papers in Economics, #143 (October 1979) (with R.J. Krumm).

4. "The Supply Concept in the MAS/SAM Model." Paper prepared for the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Contract #PO210800, February 1980.

5. Book Review: Natural Resource Economics, by Charles W. Howe. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1979, 350 pp. in Journal of Energy and Development, Vol. VI, No. 1 (Autumn, 1980), pp. 174-176 (with D. Violette).

6. Book Review: Air and Water Pollution Control: A Benefit-Cost Assessment, by A. Myrick Freeman III. New York: John Wiley and Sons 1982, XII + 186 pp. in The American Journal of Agricultural Economics, November 1983, pp. 838-840.

7. "Improving the Accuracy of Hedonic Price Methods: Econometric Analysis of Existing Data Sets," Vol. VI of Improving the Reducing Costs of Environmental Benefit Assessments, USEPA Contract #CR812054-01-1, Office of Policy Analysis and Planning, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. 20460 (with J. Murdock, M. Thayer and D. Waldman).

CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION, ADVISORY COMMITTEES, AND PAPERS PRESENTED

Urban Ecosystems Workshop, San Diego, January 12-17, 1975, put on by the National Science Foundation (RANN) and the American Institute of Planners to identify methods by which environmental research could be better incorporated in the political decision-making process. The final report of this project: The Political Environment: An Ecosystems Approach to Urban Management (AIP, 1976).

Member of the United States SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment) of the ICSU (International Council of Scientific Unions) Environmental Simulation Modelling Advisory Committee which guided the preparation of the book, Environmental Modelling and Decision Making, Praeger Special Studies in U.S. Economic, Social and Political Issues, 1976.

"Environmental Pollutants and the Urban Economy." Paper presented with G.S. Tolley at the Committee on Urban Economics (CUE) meeting at Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 25, 1976.

"Risk and Optimal Environmental Standards." Presented with G.S. Tolley at the Conference on Environmental Benefit Estimation, University of Chicago, June 9, 1977.

Participant at the National Science Foundation (RANN) Regional Environmental Systems Workshop in Seattle, Washington on June 20-24, 1977.

"The Locational Impact of Environmental Policy." Presented with G.S. Tolley at the Conference on Regional and Urban Impact of Government Policy at SUNY, Buffalo, May 5, 1978.

"The Environmental Costs of the Use of Coal in the Production of Electricity." Presented with G.S. Tolley at the ORSA/TIMS Conference in Los Angeles, November 13-15, 1978.

Member of Governor Richard D. Lamm's Air Pollution Technical Working Committee of the State of Colorado.

"Estimating the Benefits of Improved Air Quality." Presented with R.J. Krumm and D.M. Violette to a meeting of the Benefit Methodology Panel, National Commission on Air Quality, December 10, 1979, in Washington, D.C.

Presented "Are Natural Hazards Temporally Random?" (with A. Bresnock) and "Migration with a Composite Amenity," at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, April 7, 1983.

Presented "Valuing Aesthetics" at a conference on Measuring the Demand for Environmental Commodities, The Bismarck Hotel, Chicago, November 18, 1988.

Presented "The Economics of Environmental Quality" and "Natural Resource Scarcity" to thirty high school students and thirty high school teachers, in Boulder, CO June 22, 1991 and in Davis, CA June 29, 1991.

Taught microeconomic principles and environmental/natural resource economics at the National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam from September 19, 1992 to November 4, 1992, for the National Academy of Sciences (funded by the Ford Foundation).

Participated in a special consultation on U.S.-Indochina cooperation and exchange in tertiary education, scholarly research and training, at the Social Science Research Council in New York, December 13/14, 1992.

Presented "The Valuation of Public Goods: Why Do We Work?" (with Nick Flores) at the CU Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop 2001, July 16 - 17, 2001, The Village at Breckenridge, Breckenridge, Colorado.

Presented "Valuing Public Goods" and "The Valuation of Public Goods: Why Do We Work" at the University of Chicago Workshop in Economic Policy and Public Finance, October 31, 2001.

Presented "Valuing Public Goods" and "Non-Optimal Levels of Suburbanization" at the Colorado State University, Department of Economics, February 15, 2002.

Presented "Failure to Properly Value Public Goods: Public Policy Implications" at Georgia State University, August 22, 2002.

Presented "Public Policy Implications of Improper Public Goods Valuation: The WTA-WTP Disparity," Colorado State University, October 4, 2002, the University of Colorado, November 1, 2002, George Mason University, September 26, 2003, University of Missouri, October 3, 2003, University of Chicago December 5, 2003.

Presented "Proper Valuation of Public Goods and the WTA-WTP Disparity: Public Policy Implications," North Carolina State University (presented at RTI), March 1, 2004 and at Rochester Institute of Technology, The Gosnell Lecture, September 22, 2004.

CONSULTANT TO:

Equitable Environmental Health, Inc.; Commonwealth Edison; Synergy, Inc.; Illinois Institute for Environmental Quality; Argonne National Laboratory; ERC, Inc.; Resource Management Consultants, Inc.; Energy-Environmental Consultants, Inc.; Energy and Resource Consultants, Inc.; U.S. Bureau of Mines.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

March 1999