Summary
Pierce Donovan's research develops strategies for endangered species conservation on rivers in the American Southwest. He models bioeconomic systems to inform optimal management and analyze tradeoffs between ecological health and other economic values. Two collaborative efforts with the U.S. Geological Survey currently support hydropower operation on the Colorado River and habitat preservation on the Rio Grande during the summer irrigation season.
Professor Donovan teaches natural resource economics and econometrics. In the former, students learn how to apply the principles of economics towards the design of environmental policy. In the latter, students study examples of empirical research in economics and focus on finding those special occasions where correlation does in fact imply causation.
Research interests
- Bioeconomics
- Endangered species conservation
- Land use
- Mathematical modeling
- Dynamic optimization
- Causal inference
Selected publications
- Pierce Donovan, Lucas Bair, Matt Reimer, Michael Springborn, and Charles Yackulic (2026). "Timing, uncertainty, and opportunity cost: Lessons for ecosystem modification on the Colorado River." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 138, 103358.
- Pierce Donovan (2024). "Visualizing causal hypotheses in environmental econometrics." Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 18(2): 331-342.
- Pierce Donovan and Michael Springborn (2022). "Balancing conservation and commerce: A shadow value viability approach for governing bycatch." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 114, 102689.
- Pierce Donovan, Lucas Bair, Charles Yackulic and Michael Springborn (2019), "Safety in numbers: cost-effective endangered species management for viable populations." Land Economics 95 (3), 435-453
Courses taught
- ECON 741: Applied Econometrics
- ECON 441: Introduction to Econometrics
- ECON 309: Natural Resource Economics
Education
- Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, 2020
- B.S. Physics and Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2015