Faculty
Karen Fisher-Vanden
Associate Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics
(Ph.D., Public Policy, Harvard University, 1999)
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Email address: fishervanden@psu.edu Telephone:1-814-867-2752 Fax: 1-814-865-3746 Office address: 112E Armsby Building University Park, PA 16802 |
Research Interests
My areas of research include economic instruments for pollution control; economic and integrated assessment modeling for climate change policy analysis; and technology development in developing countries (in particular, China) and implications for energy use and carbon emissions. I am currently involved in two externally-funded research projects: (1) an examination of the effects of foreign influence on technological development in China; and (2) the development of an improved model of endogenous technical change that captures uncertain R&D returns and climate response.
Outreach/Extension Interests
I am currently a member of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Product Development Advisory Committee and am a lead author of a recent congressionally-mandated CCSP report on global change scenarios. My research in China involves international research collaborations with colleagues at the National Bureau of Statistics in China and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Current/Recent Courses
- ERRE 497A: Environmental Economics, Policy, and Management
Recent Selected Publications
Fisher-Vanden, K., and G. Jefferson, 2008, “Technology Diversity and Development: Evidence from China’s Industrial Enterprises.” Journal of Comparative Economics, 36(4):658-672.
Breetz, H. and K. Fisher-Vanden. 2007. "Does Cost-Share Replicate Water Quality Trading Projects? Implications for a Partnership Between Cost-share and Water Quality Trading." Review of Agricultural Economics, 29(2), 201-215.
Fisher-Vanden, K., and M.S. Ho. 2007. “How Do Market Reforms Affect China’s Responsiveness to Environmental Policy?” Journal of Development Economics, 82, 200-233.
Parson, Burkett, Fisher-Vanden, Keith, Mearns, Pitcher, Rosenzweig, and Webster. 2007. Global Change Scenarios: Their Development and Use. U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.1b.
Breetz, H., Fisher-Vanden, K., Jacobs, H. and C. Schary, 2005, “Trust and Communication: Mechanisms for Increasing Farmers’ Participation in Water Quality Trading.” Land Economics, 81(2), 170-190.
Fisher-Vanden, K., G. Jefferson, H. Liu, and Q. Tao, 2004 “What is Driving China’s Decline in Energy Intensity?” Resource and Energy Economics, 26(1), 77-97.