Christopher Costello Associate Professor of Economics Bren School

1
Christopher CostelloAssociate Professor of
EconomicsBren School Economics

• Renewable resources, biodiversity, uncertainty,
  dynamic optimization

2
What I do

• Background
• Teaching
• Economics of Environmental Management
• Environmental Modeling
• PhD Seminar
• Ask an important question that is
• Interesting
• Dont know answer (identify the tension)
• You can develop an approach for answering

3
Some problems I work on

1. Fisheries management property rights, spatial
   externalities, optimal policies
2. Exotic species trade, species damage, optimal
   policy response
3. Biodiversity conservation cost effectiveness
4. Search how much information gathering in
   research?

4
Some economic approaches

1. Decision making under uncertainty
2. Value of information
3. Bayesian statistics, learning, adaptation
4. Dynamic optimization

5
Renewable Resources

• Spatial bioeconomics
• Are spatial closures optimal? How close will
  spatial property rights get us?
• Renewable resources under uncertainty
• How optimize harvest in a variable environment?
• Concessions as a rights-based mechanism
• Structure of tenure required to incentivize
  stewardship?
• Value of improved information
• Which kinds of information have the most value?

6
Biodiversity/Exotic Species

• Introductions vs. Discoveries
• Is the discovery record a good proxy for
  introductions?
• Partner-specific invasion risk
• Empirically what are the risks? Use as a basis
  for partner-specific policy.
• Global supply curve for biodiversity?
• TNC data, species area curve
• Bioprospecting as private-sector mechanism

7
Contact Information

• Christopher Costello
• 4410 Bren Hall
• costello_at_bren.ucsb.edu
• 893-5802