Richard Norgaard Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics Energy and natural resource economics applies economic theory and empirical methods to issues involving the allocation of energy and other natural resources. Comparing the pattern of market-determined depletion to an efficient use of the resource in question can yield implications for policy.
Environmental issues are currently prominent in both methods and topics.
Economists study the sources of environmental disruption and fashion mechanisms for control. Empirical studies, involving statistical estimation of resource demand and supply and the costs of environmental programs add a quantitative dimension to theoretical and policy analyses. Severin Borenstein Business Administration Professor Severin Borenstein received research support for students Christopher Knittel, Lauren Dinh, and Mui Tran at the UC Energy Institute. Borenstein advised economics graduate student Christopher Knittel on a project estimating the potential for market power in a deregulated electricity market, using models for California and New Jersey. Christopher Knittel is part of a research project on the restructuring process taking place across the US and around the world.