John Whitehead, a professor of economics at Appalachian State University, has earned an AERE Fellows Award, the highest honor in the field of environmental and resource economics.
The award is presented annually by the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE), and it recognizes up to three individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the profession, such as advances to the knowledge base in environmental and resource economics and increasing visibility of the field, among others.
Whitehead earned the award, in part, for his work with “stated preference” valuation methods, which he uses as a way to estimate benefits of environmental quality changes.
Dr. Whitehead is an internationally recognized expert in using both stated preference and “travel cost” methods to value goods and services that aren’t easily monetized, like improvements in air and water quality, conservation of natural land, expansion of parks and recreational areas, and loss and damages related to climate change.
Whitehead has been active for many years in the AERE community, including serving on the board of directors, creating the organization’s first website, and organizing AERE’s Southern Economic Association sessions that have provided a forum to help young economists launch their careers.
Whitehead’s award was presented by long-time collaborator and friend Lynne Lewis of Colorado State University during the AERE conference held May 29-31 in Washington, DC.
Whitehead was one of three to receive the 2024 award. Maximilian Auffhammer of the University of California Berkeley and Paul Ferraro of Johns Hopkins also received the AERE Fellow award.
“As an AERE fellow, John joins a relatively short list of the most celebrated academics in the field, including William Nordhaus - 2018 Nobel Prize winner in Economics,” said Dr. David McEvoy, chair of App State’s Department of Economics.
See a complete list of past fellows online, https://www.aere.org/aere-fellows.
The 2024 winners were recently interviewed for an episode of “Resources Radio,” a weekly podcast from Resources for the Future, a nonprofit organization in Washington D.C. that conducts independent research into environmental, energy and natural resource issues.
The podcast, hosted by Margaret Walls and entitled The Long View: Thoughts on the Economics Field from Three Environmental Economists, is available on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/resourcesradio/the-long-view-thoughts-on-the-field-from-three-environmental-economists
Margaret Walls (right) interviewed Whitehead for an episode of “Resources Radio,” a weekly podcast from Resources for the Future, a nonprofit organization that conducts independent research into environmental, energy and natural resource issues.
In the podcast, Auffhammer, Ferraro and Whitehead reflect on their careers, discuss winning the award and offer insights into the current state of environmental and resource economics and the evolution of the field.
“The future of environmental economics is in good hands,” said Whitehead. “The young people are brilliant … They’re doing great work. It’s interesting, and we’re just learning a lot about how people respond to environmental insults or improvements in environmental quality and what that means for society.”
Whitehead was recently selected as an author for the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s first-ever ‘First National Nature Assessment’ and earned the 100 Scholars Research Award from the Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies. Learn more about Whitehead online, economics.appstate.edu/directory/john-whitehead-phd.
About the Department of Economics at Appalachian State University
The Department of Economics in Appalachian State University's Walker College of Business is an intellectually vibrant place for students and faculty. As a research-intensive department committed to student learning, the department offers a wide range of courses that provide critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, complemented by student-faculty research collaboration. Our faculty members are engaged in research that contributes locally and globally in areas related to energy, environmental, development, trade, health, sports and tourism. The Department of Economics is ranked among the leading U.S. economics departments for research productivity, and is particularly strong in environmental and experimental economics. Learn more at economics.appstate.edu.
John Whitehead
Appalachian State University