Research Areas | Grant Projects | Students' Thesis Research

My current research focusses on issues related to economics of coastal resource management, agroecology, human dimension issues of the South Florida environment, payment for environmental services, and spatial economics of natural resources. The common theme that spans my research works is the application of ecological-economics approach to environmental problem solving. This approach drastically departs from the conventional economic approach and attempts to integrate ecological and economic principles into a holistic decision-making framework, in order to promote a more sustainable resource management. I use quantitative modeling tools such as spatial-temporal optimal control models, game-theoretic models, and econometric tools to simulate the dynamic interactions between different ecological and economic sub-systems of a resource or problem under investigation. Such a modeling approach provides policy makers with more objective insights into the policy making process.

Main Research Areas:

• Economics and human dimension issues of the South Florida environment
  • Economic valuation of non-market attributes of the Florida Keys marine reserves
  • Economic and policy review of the Florida Biscayne Bay
  • Cost-benefit analysis of the Everglades restoration projects
  • Water pricing policies and the Everglades restoration plan
  • Public participation in ecosystem restoration planning and implementation
  • Tradable emission rights in the municipal sewer pretreatment program

   

• Sustainable coastal resource management
  • Economics of sustainable fishery harvesting in South India
  • Dynamics of ecological-economic interaction between commercial aquaculture and agriculture
  • Sustainable commercial aquaculture in Trinidad
  • Non-market valuation of marine biodiversity

   

• Natural resource economic modeling
  • Bioeconomic modeling
  • Spatial economics of natural resource harvesting
  • Game-theoretic decision models
  • Input-out models of natural resource-based regional economies

Grant Projects

Public Participation and Engagement in Ecosystem Restoration Planning and Implementation: A Guide for Resource Managers

A grant from the Department of Interior, 2001 - 2003

Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) success requires increased public education and awareness of project objectives as well as increased community involvement in restoration decision-making. This project conducts a review of existing public engagement procedures, evaluates these procedures, incorporates the expertise of local community advocates, and then develops a comprehensive public engagement primer for resource managers and other agency decision-makers. The primer will be available in print format and on the web. Also, a survey of participants who attended various CERP public participation programs since 1998 has been conducted and the data has been analyzed.

Pricing water right in South Florida: An Economic Analysis

A grant from the FIU Foundation/Provost Office, 2002

A rapid growth in the population of South Florida has brought increasing pressure on residential and commercial water supply. The region's population is expected to continue to grow in the future. The federal and state governments are in the process of launching a multi-billion dollar project, called Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), which is expected to increase water supply for human consumption. However, this new supply does come at an added external cost on the environment, particularly the Everglades. This study is an attempt to analyze if current water pricing practices in south Florida are adequate to send an appropriate conservation signal to the growing market so that environmental costs and water scarcity in the future are minimized. We first analyze the current pricing practices of major utilities in South Florida, and then develop a partial equilibrium model of water market in order to simulate efficient water rates in the future. This model would explicitly take into account private production costs, future scarcity (user cost) and environmental externality. Further, the simulated efficient rates also will consider growing population, water demand, planned water supply capacities and investments. Finally, our goal is to draw suitable policy conclusions on how to correct the likely gaps between the current water prices and simulated efficient water prices under alternative economic, demographic and environmental conditions.

An Economic Analysis of Sustainability of Marine Fish Production tion in Karnataka, India

A grant from the World Bank, through Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research, Bombay, India, August 1999 - Summer 2001

The objective of this project is to analyze the implications of fishery management policies on the sustainability of fisher production in coastal Karnataka, India. We develop a dynamic model of optimal fishery-harvesting under multi-species and multi-gear fishery. The Schaefer's bioeconomic model quantifies the optimal fishing effort and optimum economic yield and provides precise targets for the management of marine fishery resources of Karnataka. The results show that Karnataka fishery has expanded beyond economically optimum point and the current level of effort resulting in sub optimal yield. The dynamic multi-species harvesting model is applied to Mangalore port. The results show that almost all the major commercial species like Indian mackerel, black pomfrets, stomatopods and cephalopoids will experience a decline in future stocks should the intensity of harvesting continues at the current level. The majority of these species can be made more sustainable through an optimal allocation of fishing efforts across existing gears and over time. Such allocation also results in a sizable increase in the fishery rent. Biological sustainability can be further enhanced for most species by putting technological and mandatory season restrictions. However, these policy changes are inadequate for popular species like Indian mackerel. The study concludes by recognizing the need for testing the biological and economic implications of a wide range of fishery management and technical policy options. Each of these options may result in different social implications which must be further studied.

Alternative Fishery Regulations and their Socio-economic Impacts in Karnataka, India, August 1997- July 2000

A grant from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

A grant from the FIU Foundation/Provost Office, 1996

The coral reef is a unique environmental and economic resource of Florida which has been rapidly diminishing in its quality and abundance in recent years. In order to protect the coral reef, which supports two Florida industries (tourism and fishing), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced several alternative management plans. This plan could affect the commercial exploitation of fish in the reef. This project proposes to estimate the nonuse (recreational) benefits of several coral protection plans, a key management information useful to public agencies for justifying any regulatory actions. Benefit estimates will be derived using an indirect, nonmarket evaluation technique, based on the actual user choices of recreational activities and the implied expenditures at various levels of coral quality associated with different management strategies. The project involves development and administration of a questionnaire to a sample frame of three different non-consumptive user groups: glass-bottom boat users, divers, and recreational fishermen in the Florida Keys. The survey information will be used to statistically derive estimates of values that visitors attach to different coral management strategies. The study results indicate that an average visitor would undertake 43 to 80 percent more number of trips to the Florida Keys and experience a 69 percent increase in the use values per trip, as a result of the MR-induced reef quality improvements. The above non-market value estimates are further applied to evaluating alternative management proposals for funding the MR program. It is found that the annual management costs of the MR program constitutes an insignificant portion-only around one to two percent--of the annual recreational benefits that the MR would generate. The results provide a strong economic justification for designing user-based funding mechanisms in order to make the MR program self-sustaining in the future.