Most of my work addresses sustainable local economic development and environmental change and the factors shaping local economies in industrialized countries and the third world. Other than my currently funded projects, the research questions of specific continuing interest to me include:
- The relationship between environmental regulations and local land use and other economic change, including business location decisions, capital flows, and informal economic processes.
- The viability and sustainability of local economic development strategies which enhance local control over environmental conditions and growth potentials. In particular, the long term impacts of different subsidies, comparing investments in human capital to those in local infrastructure.
- The concept of the “commons” and common property rights, and their implications for the levels at which different environmental impacts need to be, and politically can be, addressed.
- Perception and planning: How values shape processes of objective formation and strategy selection and development of statistical series and tools for measuring change. In particular, in-depth analysis of the problems of environmental justice in perception and reality.
- Cross-national comparisons of different environmental control and economic development efforts, especially the dilemmas of ecotourism and preservation of ecological assets.
While I am an economist, my research is influenced by the theoretical perspectives of economic and political geography, planning theory and the sociology of community.
Beyond matters involving environmental issues, other interests include:
- Community-based planning methods and their implications for priority setting and more democratic and meaningful public participation
- Methods of delivery of energy assistance and other public consumption aid and their incentive effects on households with minimal ability to pay their bills.
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