Anthony C. Fisher
Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics
207 Giannini Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3310
e-mail:
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).
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