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Ecosystem Economics Unit
The ecosystem economics unit is led by Davy McCracken and consists of six research staff and four postgraduate students based at SAC Edinburgh.
The resource economics group undertakes a range of policy-relevant research addressing issues of demand and supply of environmental amenity at national and global scales.
The group has particular strengths in the valuation of non-market goods and services and the use of valuation in applied cost benefit decisions for projects and regulatory policies.
Additional strengths lie in the application of economic instruments and cost-benefit analysis to rural and environment issues such as land use and water quality, renewable energy and biodiversity.
Team members also offer strengths in the economics of industrial regulation resource economics (including modelling), game theory, fisheries economics and qualitative methods for preference elicitation.
The group is increasingly realising its key role within SAC, which is to provide an economic input to integrated environmental and health assessments, and the use of economics in interdisciplinary approaches to evidence based policymaking.
Particular policy applications have been carried out for agri environmental reform in Scotland (the Scottish Government and SNH), the provision of rural services in Scotland (the Scottish Government), economic evaluation of modifiable fish diseases (Scottish Government), animal welfare (Defra), publicly-funded genetic research priorities (Defra), regulatory cost estimation (Defra) and the design of food safety incentives (Food Standards Agency).
PhD Students
Our PhD candidates:
Ms Ioanna Mouratiado 2005 - Modelling the welfare effects of Water Framework Directive implementation in Scotland (Scottish Government)
Mr Manuel Lago Aresti 2004 – The economics of implementing water standards in the context of the Water Framework Directive
Ms Wimoplat Bumbudsanpharoke 2005 - The economics of ecolabeling in Thailand (Thai government)
Mr Christopher Sherrington 2005 - Modelling the supply of biofuels in the UK (Nerc)
Ms Helen Laycock 2004 - Assessing the cost-effectivenesss of national biodiversity conservation plans (ESRC - Nerc studentship, joint supervision with Dr Piran While - University of York, Environment Department)