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Reflections—On the Role of Theory in Contemporary Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

Research in the field of environmental and natural resource economics has seen a very notable shift over the past several decades, with a diminished focus on theoretical analysis and a concurrent increase in an emphasis on empirical analysis. This is at least in part a response to greater availability of data and the development of new empirical methods for estimating the impacts of environmental policies. I argue here that despite this “swinging of the pendulum,” economic theory continues to play an important role in informing empirical analyses and in increasing our understanding of alternative policy approaches. This suggests the need to maintain a balance between theory and empirical analysis in both training and research.