Faculty Strategy Committee
Alex Pfaff
Associate Professor of Public Policy Studies
Alexander Pfaff, PhD, is an associate professor of public policy,
economics and environment at Duke University’s Sanford Institute of
Public Policy. He is an environment and natural-resource economist whose
work frequently focuses on developing countries.
His current
research examines the impacts of roads, protected areas and payments for
ecosystem services on deforestation (Brazilian Amazon, Costa Rica,
Mexico); what drives decisions that lower harmful exposures, such as to
indoor emissions (Pakistan, Tanzania, Ghana) and arsenic in drinking
water (Bangladesh); how households respond to climate and water shocks
in daily production decisions and when faced with new tradeoffs by water
policies (N.E. Brazil); and how regulators might shift the incentives
for firms to provide environmental information. The goal of his applied
research is to raise the chance that interventions have their intended
impacts on the environment and natural resources while benefiting the
people they are designed to help.
Pfaff’s work has been supported
by grants from the National Science Foundation (Methods and Models for
Integrated Assessment (MMIA) and Human and Social Dynamics (HSD)); NOAA
(Office of Global Programs (OGP)), NASA (integrated Amazonia program
(LBA)); The Tinker Foundation (focused upon Latin America) and NCEAS
(National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis). It has involved
theses for undergraduates, master's students and PhD candidates in
economics, anthropology, ecology, public policy and environmental
management.
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