Research

The growing  interest in governance with government rather than governance by government has spurred the study of alternative, decentralized governance approaches in environmental policy and management. Yet questions remain about their emergence, diffusion, and impact. Why do some firms and organizations participate and act while others do not? How do manager's choices and organizational capcity shape what they do? What explains different levels of effort and performance? Do these approaches work? If so, by how much? Who gains or loses?

To answer these questions, my research bridges economics, public policy, and management, connecting the behavior of decision-makers inside organizations with markets, isntitutions, and communities around them. My projects investigate the drivers and impact of voluntary approaches and market-based policies across sectors and in developed and developing countries. My work has examined the interaction between public and private provision of public goods and the role of markets, institutions, managerial agency, organizational capacity, and political economy in policymaking and policy design across issue areas, from toxics, to ocean and marine resources, to climate change. I have also examined the implications of alternative governance approaches for social equity and environmental justice and the role of states, cities, and other subnational governments, Tribal Nations, and communities. 

I collect novel data and use both quantitative and qualitative research methods. My methodological interests and expertise include quasi-experimental approaches, survey-based techniques, multilevel/hierarchical modeling, discrete-continuous choice modeling, dynamic panel modeling, time series analysis, computational text analysis and large-scale data for causal inference, and systematic interviews with key stakeholders and process tracing to uncover causal mechanisms. 

A list of my published articles and current projects is here and here. Read about my recent book, Corporations at Climate Crossroads (MIT Press, 2025), here.