Shaping Environmental Policy to Improve Water Quality & Environmental Health

Two distinguished alumni of the Iowa State Department of Economics return to campus to discuss policy options and incentives to improve water quality and environmental health in Iowa and the upper Midwest. What incentives, disincentives, or environmental markets would encourage practices that reduce nutrient runoff and nonpoint source pollution and improve environmental health? Which strategies would maximize net benefits? Participants include James Shortle, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics at Pennsylvania State University, who studies economic incentives and policy design for water resource management, including nutrient pollution, and Sandy Hoffmann, Senior Economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service whose research focuses on assessing human health benefits from environmental quality and food safety programs. John Miranowski Emeritus Professor of Economics at Iowa State will moderate the discussion. Part of the Economics Forum