Researcher Profile

Sheila M. Olmstead

University Fellow

512.471.2064 olmstead@rff.org

rff/org/olmstead

Download CV

Topics of Interest

• Climate Change
• Energy and Electricity
• Environmental Economics Topics
• Forests
• International
• Land Use
• Water
• Benefit-Cost Analysis
• Climate Adaptation
• Natural Infrastructure
• Policy Instruments and Evaluation
• Shale Gas
• Valuation
• Water Quality

Sheila Olmstead is an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on natural resource management and pollution control, with a particular emphasis on water resource economics, including urban water demand management, market-based approaches to water conservation, drinking water quality regulation, access to drinking water among low-income populations, and the efficient allocation of water across sectors. Her recent work investigates the impacts of information disclosure on drinking water quality violations, regulatory avoidance under the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act, the influence of federal fire suppression policy on land development in the American West, and key components of a post-2012 international climate policy architecture. 
  
Olmstead’s research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Environmental Science and Technology, and Water Resources Research. With Nathaniel Keohane, she is the author of the 2007 book Markets and the Environment. Before coming to RFF in 2010, Olmstead was an Associate Professor (2007-2010) and Assistant Professor (2002-2007) of Environmental Economics at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where she taught courses in natural resource economics, water resource economics, and principles of microeconomics. 

Olmstead is in RFF’s Land, Water, and Nature Program.

Education

PhD, Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2002
MA in public affairs, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, 1996
BA, Political and Social Thought, with High Distinction, University of Virginia, 1992

Recent Work

• Resources Article

  Dam Construction on International Rivers

  Jan 7, 2016 | Sheila M. Olmstead, Hilary Sigman | 2 pp.
  Countries tend to overdevelop shared rivers if they can pass on some of the costs of dams to their downstream neighbors.
  Development and Environment International Water
• Working Paper

  Damming the Commons: An Empirical Analysis of International Cooperation and Conflict in Dam Location

  Aug 14, 2015 | Sheila M. Olmstead, Hilary Sigman
  Environmental Economics Topics International Water
• Book Chapter

  Water quality and economics: willingness to pay, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and new research frontiers

  Mar 27, 2015 | Yusuke Kuwayama, Sheila M. Olmstead | pp. 474–501
  Water
• Journal Article

  Water Quality and Quantity Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing

  Feb 24, 2015 | Yusuke Kuwayama, Sheila M. Olmstead, Alan J. Krupnick | pp. 17-24
  Energy and Electricity Water
• Working Paper

  The Economics of Shale Gas Development

  Nov 24, 2014 | Charles Mason, Lucija Anna Muehlenbachs, Sheila M. Olmstead | 33 pp.
  Energy and Electricity