My research asks how institutions can help people act collectively to restore ecosystems, strengthen rural communities, and build fairer economic systems. I work across environmental and institutional economics, cooperative governance, environmental law, sociology, and conservation science, using mixed methods to connect rigorous analysis with lived experience.
A principle has guided me since 2015: go beyond the dataset and talk to the people behind the numbers. That commitment shapes my work on ecosystem cooperatives, farmers’ perceptions of fairness, environmental values, and the motivations that turn shared concerns into collective action.
Research program
Ecosystem cooperatives
I am developing ecosystem cooperatives as locally governed, multi-stakeholder institutions through which residents, Indigenous communities, businesses, scientists, and other partners can share authority and responsibility for ecosystem conservation and restoration. The model integrates environmental valuation and accounting, collective rule-making and enforcement, and a community-governed research commons.
Collective action and the missing Phase Zero
This work extends the agricultural cooperative lifecycle by examining what happens before an organization forms: how perceived unfairness, shared threats, values, and trust motivate people to mobilize. It asks why support for collective action can coexist with skepticism toward existing cooperative institutions.
Fairness in agrifood systems
Using interviews and survey evidence, I study how farmers form expectations and judge whether agricultural markets treat them fairly. This research connects lived experience to broader questions of market power, participation, trust, and agrifood governance.
Environmental values and resilient communities
My broader research examines environmental, cooperative, and altruistic values; ecosystem services and valuation; climate impacts; disaster resilience; and rural development. Across these areas, I ask how information, institutions, and inclusive participation can turn environmental concern into durable action.
Selected publications
Peer-reviewed research
Public scholarship
Work in progress & presentations
Current manuscripts
• Ecosystem cooperatives: A path to strengthen restoration and conservation efforts (with Harvey S. James; under review).
• What really motivates collective action? (with Michael L. Cook).
• Beyond narrow economic rationality: Toward an ecological-institutional account of human motivation, environmental preferences, and collective action.
• Exploring support for collective environmental initiatives (with Harvey S. James).
• Why do farmers support collective action but remain skeptical of cooperative institutions? Evidence from Bihar, India (with Harvey S. James and Michael L. Cook).
Selected presentations
• International Association of Society and Natural Resources Annual Conference, 2026: ecosystem cooperatives and collective environmental initiatives.
• Tropentag Conference, BOKU Vienna, 2024: environmental, cooperative, and altruistic values.
• Missouri Valley Economic Association, 2022: ecosystem cooperatives.
• International Seminar on Poverty, Environment and Sustainable Development Goals in Asia-Pacific, 2016: agriculture and the environment in Indian states.