Boyd's research is in the fields of environmental regulation and law and economics, focusing on the analysis of environmental institutions and policy. Specific areas of expertise include ecological benefit and damage assessment, water regulation, environmental and product liability law, and incentive-based regulation. Current research focuses the measurement and analysis of ecosystem services and the role of ecosystem services in both environmental management and national welfare accounting.
 
In the 2007-2008 academic year Boyd will be a Visiting Professor at Stanford University. Boyd has been a visiting faculty member at the Olin Business School, Washington University, St. Louis and currently serves on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board on Valuing the Protection of Ecological Systems and Services. Boyd has been a consultant to, among others, the World Bank, National Academy of Sciences, the European Commission, the Harvard Institute for International Development, and various government agencies.