Don Coursey

About

Don L. Coursey is the Ameritech Professor of Public Policy at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the College. He is an experimental economist whose research focuses on eliciting reliable measures of preferences and monetary values for public goods, such as environmental quality. His work has concentrated on demand for international environmental quality, environmental legislation in the United States, and public preferences for environmental outcomes in relation to other social and economic goals. Coursey led an investigation into environmental equity in Chicago, documenting the prevalence of hazardous industrial sites in poor, minority neighborhoods. He has also examined public expenditures on endangered species and has consulted with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop federal response guidelines for environmental disasters following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He received both a BA in mathematics and a PhD in economics from the University of Arizona and has previously taught at the University of Wyoming and Washington University in St. Louis. His contributions have been recognized through awards such as the Burlington-Northern Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teaching, the Greater St. Louis Award for Excellence in University Teaching, and the John M. Olin School of Business Teacher of the Year Award in 1989 and 1990. He has been named Professor of the Year for six consecutive years by Harris students.

Research topics

• Economics
• Business
• Microeconomics
• Political science
• Natural resource economics

Selected publications

• Why Economics Matters for Endangered Species Protection

  Conservation Biology · 1999-12-01 · 153 citations

  article

  Abstract: We offer three reasons why economics matters more to species protection than many people think and what this implies for the ongoing debate over the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Economics matters because (1) human behavior generally, and economic parameters in particular, help determine the degree of risk to a species; (2) in a world of scarce resources, the opportunity cost of species protection—the costs of reduced resources for other worthwhile causes—must…

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• Economic and Health Risk Trade-Offs of Swim Closures at a Lake Michigan Beach

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2004-04-08 · 115 citations

  article

  This paper presents a framework for analyzing the economic, health, and recreation implications of swim closures related to high fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) levels. The framework utilizes benefit transfer policy analysis to provide a practical procedure for estimating the effectiveness of recreational water quality policies. Evaluation criteria include the rates of intended and unintended management outcomes, whether the chosen protocols generate closures with positive net economic benefits t…

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• The locality of waste sites within the city of Chicago: a demographic, social, and economic analysis

  Resource and Energy Economics · 2002-02-01 · 97 citations

  articleSenior author
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• Protecting Endangered Species in the United States

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2001-05-21 · 66 citations

  book

  This collection of original essays by economists, biologists and political scientists has a common theme: that protecting species at risk while safeguarding social order is a policy challenge that entangles biology, politics, and economics. Nearly 1200 species are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973; only twelve have been removed from the list. Attempts at species recovery on public and private property lead the authors to examine the political reali…

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• The Revealed Demand for a Public Good: Evidence from Endangered and Threatened Species

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2001-05-21 · 28 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  In the environmental arena, it is difficult to put a value on resources, as such values often vary from person to person. Biologists and ecologists value ecosystems in a certain way, often arguing for preservation of the balance of nature, genetic information and its potential future value to the public, and the right of every species to exist. The U.S. Supreme Court echoed this natural science perspective in Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill. The Court concluded that the language of the Endang…

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Frequent coauthors

• David S. Brookshire

  University of New Mexico

  15 shared

• Vincent Tidwell

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  8 shared

• Jason F. Shogren

  8 shared

• Craig D. Broadbent

  Brigham Young University - Idaho

  8 shared

• Robert Innes

  5 shared

• William D. Schulze

  5 shared

• Gardner Brown

  4 shared

• Stephen M. Meyer

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• Burlington-Northern Foundation Award for Distinguished Achie…
• Greater St. Louis Award for Excellence in University Teachin…
• John M. Olin School of Business Teacher of the Year Award (1…
• Professor of the Year (six consecutive years by Harris stude…

Similar researchers at University of Chicago

• Katherine Baickerh-51
• Ethan Bueno de Mesquitah-25
• Chad Broughtonh-10