Stephen Polasky
University of Minnesota
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Primary Section: 64, Human Environmental Sciences Secondary Section: 54, Economic Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2010)
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Biosketch
Stephen Polasky is a Regents Professor and the Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological/Environmental Economics at the University of Minnesota where he has a joint appointment in the Department of Applied Economics and the Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior. He is also a fellow of the University’s Institute on the Environment. His research focuses on issues at the intersection of ecology and economics, and include the value of ecosystem services and natural capital, biodiversity conservation, sustainability, environmental regulation, renewable energy, and common property resources. He is a co-founder of the Natural Capital Project. He served as Senior Staff Economist for environment and resources for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers 1998-1999, the Board of Directors for The Nature Conservancy, the Science Advisory Board of NOAA, the Science Advisory Board of the EPA, and the Sustainability External Advisory Committee of Dow Chemical Company. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan in 1986.
Research Interests
Professor Polasky's research aims to develop and apply methods to quantify the value of nature's contributions to human well-being. His research with colleagues has developed biophysical models of the provision of ecosystem services, and shown how changes in land use, land management, water use, and resource use affect the joint provision of multiple ecosystem services. His research has developed methods to measure the contribution of ecosystem services to human well-being measured in both monetary and non-monetary metrics. His work has also contributed to understanding tradeoffs among provisions of services and methods to manage socio-economic-ecological systems for the sustainable provision of multiple ecosystem services.
