We explore the economic effects of biodiversity loss by developing an ecologically-founded model that captures how different species interact to deliver the ecosystem services that complement other factors of economic production. Aggregate ecosystem services are produced by combining several...

We introduce a new database of historical Genuine Savings (GS), an indicator of sustainable development promoted by the World Bank and widely used in contemporary economic research. GS derives from the theoretical work on wealth accounting, and addresses shortcomings in conventional metrics of...

Particulate matter significantly reduces life expectancy in India. We use a randomized controlled trial in the Indian state of Punjab to evaluate the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers (also known as payments for ecosystem services, or PES) in reducing crop residue burning, which is a...

Increased temperature-related mortality is predicted to be one of the largest contributors to future economic damages from climate change globally, with declines in cold-related deaths in some regions outweighed by increases in heat-related deaths in others. Changes in temperature could also...

This paper quantifies and decomposes recent trends in U.S. PM2.5 disparities from the electricity sector using a high-resolution pollution transport model. Between 2000-2018, PM2.5 concentrations from electricity fell by 89% for the average individual, more than double the decline rate in...

The conversion of brown office buildings to green apartments can contribute towards a solution to three pressing issues: oversupply of office in a hybrid-and-remote-work world, shortage of housing, and excessive greenhouse gas emissions. We propose a set of criteria to identify commercial office...

Although at least 400 million people suffer from seasonal allergies worldwide, the adverse effects of pollen on "non-health" outcomes, such as cognition and productivity, are relatively understudied. Using ambulance archives from Japan, we demonstrate that high pollen days are associated with...

This paper provides stated preference (SP) estimates of the average social cost of carbon (ASCC) for use in evaluation of the benefits and costs of climate policy. Based on a U.S. nationally representative survey, we find an average individual willingness-to-pay (WTP) of $1,116 per year to keep...

This paper estimates the value of urban trees. The empirical strategy exploits an ecological catastrophe -- the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation in Toronto to isolate exogenous variation in neighborhood tree canopy changes. Adding one tree to a postcode increases property prices by 0.40%; the...

Wildfire activity has increased in the US and is projected to accelerate under future climate change. However, our understanding of the impacts of climate change on wildfire smoke and health remains highly uncertain. We quantify the past and future mortality burden in the US due to wildfire...