Joshua Abbott

Joshua Abbott is Director and Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. His research examines the equitable and sustainable governance of natural resources in the presence of environmental change, often employing economic modeling and statistical approaches in partnership with expertise from colleagues in other disciplines within the natural and social sciences.

Professor Abbott has conducted extensive research on policy innovations to foster sustainable fisheries (both recreational and commercial) and blue economies, and has worked closely with scientists, fishers, and policymakers within NOAA Fisheries and the US Fishery Management Council system to improve management outcomes for ecosystems and the people on which they depend. He has also developed research on the valuation and management of water resources,  particularly in arid urban contexts, such as in the US Southwest. Professor Abbott has also engaged with colleagues in economics and the natural sciences to develop rigorous metrics of the value of natural resources (e.g., groundwater, fish stocks) as forms of societal capital given the presence of ecological-economic couplings and uncertainty. These values can be utilized to inform decision making by governments and the private sector as well as contribute to national green accounting efforts. 

Professor Abbott has published his research in a number of economics and interdisciplinary journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Climate Change, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. He has served as the Editor in Chief of the journal Marine Resource Economics and as a Co-Editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. 

Beyond research pursuits, Professor Abbott teaches teaches courses in natural resource and environmental economics, statistical methods, and sustainable seafood. He is also the administrator of the Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Sustainability Economics and a founding member of the Economics for Sustainability lab group.