Charles D. Kolstad
Research Statement

(environmental and resource economics, industrial organization, regulation)

The general area of my research is in industrial organization and environmental/resource economics. I have long been interested in how energy markets are structured and how environmental regulations influence those markets, and the economy generally. Over the years, some major themes in my research have been:

• interjurisdictional tax competition, motivated by extractive taxes on energy
• the operation of spatial markets under imperfect competition, motivated by understanding the operation of coal markets
• normative environmental regulation, specifically the spatial differentiation of regulations and the role of information acquisition in determining optimal regulations
• positive environmental regulation, focusing on explaining the coexistence of liability and direct regulation
• environmental valuation, particularly focusing on the role of information in hypothetical valuation of environmental resources.

In recent years, two research programs have dominated my agenda:

• regulating stock externalities   (particularly climate change precursors) under imperfect information and information acquisition (learning)
• extending the theory of non-market valuation, including hypothetical valuation and travel cost.

[Selected Publications]   [Working Papers]   [Postscript list of Selected Publications]

Kolstad Home Page at:   Economics / Bren

Economics Department Home Page / Bren School Home Page / UCSB Home Page

Created 24-Mar-97 by Catherine Dibble (updated 28-Jan-98) (cath@econ.ucsb.edu)