Anthony C. Fisher

Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Current Research Interests

Anthony Fisher's current research projects focus on various aspects of the economics of global climate change. Decisions on control of greenhouse gas emissions need to be made today, under uncertainty about potential future damages from warming, and subject to rigidities or irreversibilities in both natural and economic systems. One set of studies looks at the implications of relevant uncertainties and irreversibilities for the timing of climate policy, i.e., how soon and how stringently should we cut back on emissions of greenhouse gases? Further, what general principles for environmental and other decisions under uncertainty emerge from this application to climate policy?

Some sectors of the economy (and also of course natural systems) are potentially at greater risk than others. A prime example is agriculture, since climate variables such as temperature and precipitation are direct inputs to production. Another set of studies focuses on the empirical estimation of potential damages, especially to the vulnerable agriculture sector. An important distinction here is between regions that are primarily dependent on irrigation and regions that are not. In the former, the link between precipitation and productivity is complex and involves the operation of ground and surface water systems. One empirical study focuses on rainfed, or dryland agriculture in the U.S. Another focuses on California as an important example of a region of irrigated agriculture.

Recent Papers

• Will U.S. Agriculture Really Benefit from Global Warming?: Accounting for Irrigation in the Hedonic Approach, Wolfram Schlenker, W. Michael Hanemann, and Anthony C. Fisher (March 2005). The American Economic Review, Vol. 95(1), pp. 395-406.
• Fishery Management Under Multiple Uncertainty, Gautam Sethi, Christopher Costello, Anthony Fisher, Michael Hanemann, and Larry Karp (2005).  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Vol. 50(2), pp. 300-318.
• Global Warming, Endogenous Risk, and Irreversibility, Anthony C. Fisher and Urvashi Narain (August 2003). Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 25(4), pp. 395-416.
• The Irreversibility Effect in Environmental Decisionmaking, Urvashi Narain, Michael Hanemann, and Anthony C. Fisher.  Forthcoming.  Environmental and Resource Economics.
• The Impact of Global Warming on U.S. Agriculture: An Econometric Analysis, Wolfram Schlenker, W. Michael Hanemann, and Anthony C. Fisher (2006).  Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 88(1), pp. 113-125.
• Water Availability, Degree Days, and the Potential Impact of Climate Change on Irrigated Agriculture in California,
  Wolfram Schlenker, W. Michael Hanemann, and Anthony C. Fisher (April 2005). Forthcoming. Climatic Change.

Teaching

• ARE 261, Environmental and Resource Economics. Course format: Theory of renewable and nonrenewable natural resource use with applications to forests, fisheries, energy and climate change. Resources, growth and sustainability. Economic theory of environmental policy. Externality; the Coasian critique; tax incidence and anomalies; indirect taxes; the double dividend; environmental standards; environmental regulation; impact of uncertainty on taxes and standards; mechanism design; monitoring, penalties, and regulatory strategy; emissions markets (3 units, Fall).
• EEP 161, Advanced Topics in Environmental and Resource Economics.  Topics include the roots of environmental and resource economics; models of optimal use of renewable and nonrenewable resources with applications to energy, timber, and the environment; and natural resources and sustainability.  Special topic:  the economics of global climate change (4 units, Fall).