The complex interaction of economic forces and environmental demands in rural areas across the globe is a rapidly expanding area of research. The research group offers opportunities for both theoretical and empirical research into rural environmental problems and policies in developing, developed and transition economies. The interest in environmental economics cuts across agricultural development, natural resource management, farm business issues, rural policy and countryside issues, as well as agricultural policy and trade issues. Research has also focussed on the economic assessment of nature conservation policies in Britain and economic issues of organic agriculture. Another field of study has been the economics of pesticide use and the development of novel techniques for weighing the environmental costs against the economic benefits.
More basic research is planned on the economics of public good provision in the countryside.
This includes the application both of auction models and agency models to agri-environmental policy design and of economic valuation methodologies to estimate environmental benefits in rural areas. This has been a natural development drawing together long-standing but hitherto separate interests in agricultural policy in Europe and in developing countries. Currently, a strong group of research students, PhD and post-doctoral, work on topics related to reform process in CEECs and issues of EU eastern enlargement. Gradually the focus of research has moved from agricultural reforms toward the wider field of rural change in transition economies. The area of transition countries involves researchers throughout the group.