Alexander Pfaff

Professor

Director of Graduate Studies DGS), Environ Policy PhD program (UPEP)

Primary Appointment

School of Public Policy

Secondary Appointment

Environmental Science & Policy Division

Alex Pfaff is a Professor of Public Policy, Economics and Environment. Trained as an economist, he is focused on how the environment and natural resources, economic development, and a range of policies influence each other.

Research accessible at AlexPfaff.com

He has studied: impacts on forests of protected areas, incentives, roads, railroads and concessions/certification (Brazil’s Amazon, Costa Rica, United States, Panama, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, Cameroon, Bolivia); institutional responses to water shocks (Brazil’s Northeast, Colombia, Mexico); drivers of harmful exposures (groundwater arsenic in Bangladesh, stove emissions in China & Pakistan); and incentives for firms to self-audit and disclose (United States). This applied research aims to increase the chance that policies have their intended impacts upon not only the environment but also the people affected.

In The News

5/10/2019

To Reverse Environmental Loss, We Must Dodge 5 Hurdles

7/25/2016

PhD Students Win Best Paper Award for Study of U.S. Catch-Share Fisheries

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Naidoo, R., D. Gerkey, D. Hole, A. Pfaff, A. M. Ellis, C. D. Golden, D. Herrera, et al. “Evaluating the impacts of protected areas on human well-being across the developing world..” Science Advances 5, no. 4 (April 3, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3006.

Fisher, Brendan, Diego Herrera, Diane Adams, Helen E. Fox, Louise Gallagher, Drew Gerkey, David Gill, et al. “Can nature deliver on the sustainable development goals?.” The Lancet. Planetary Health 3, no. 3 (March 2019): e112–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(18)30281-x.

Pfaff, A., L. A. Rodriguez, and E. Shapiro-Garza. “Collective Local Payments for ecosystem services: New local PES between groups, sanctions, and prior watershed trust in Mexico.” Water Resources and Economics, January 1, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2019.01.002.

Panlasigui, S., J. Rico-Straffon, A. Pfaff, J. Swenson, and C. Loucks. “Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013.” Biological Conservation 227 (November 1, 2018): 160–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.013.

Pfaff, A., J. Robalino, E. J. Reis, R. Walker, S. Perz, W. Laurance, C. Bohrer, et al. “Roads & SDGs, tradeoffs and synergies: Learning from Brazil’s Amazon in distinguishing frontiers.” Economics 12 (March 5, 2018). https://doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2018-11.

All Publications