Margaret A. Walls
Senior Fellow; Director, Climate Risks and Resilience Program; Director, Environmental Justice Initiative
Margaret Walls’s current research focuses on issues related to resilience and adaptation to extreme events, ecosystem services, and conservation, parks and public lands.
Walls’s work on resilience assesses the factors that affect household location decisions in coastal areas, how individuals perceive flood risks, and how risk perceptions affect adaptation decisions. She has estimated the value of natural lands—such as wetlands—in providing protection from hurricanes and flooding, and is assessing the extent to which hurricanes affect U.S. migration patterns.
Walls has written extensively on parks and conservation funding, including options for the U.S. national park system and state parks. In 2008 and 2009, she was the study director for the Outdoor Resources Review Group, a bipartisan commission of experts assessing status and trends in conservation, public lands, and outdoor recreation resources. She has carried out widely-cited research on the local economic impacts of national monuments.
Walls currently serves on the board of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. From 2010 to 2013, she was the first appointee to the Thomas J. Klutznick Chair at RFF. She was an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, from 1996 through 2000. Walls has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Public Economics, National Tax Journal, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Journal of Urban Economics, and Journal of Economic Literature, among others.
Education
- PhD in economics, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1988
- BS in agricultural economics, University of Kentucky, 1981
Featured Content
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Resources Radio — Dec 5, 2023
Creating an Equitable Urban Park System, with Norma García-González and Catherine Nagel
Norma García-González and Catherine Nagel discuss the social, environmental, and economic value of parks; the park system in Los Angeles County; and how data tools and community engagement can help urban park systems improve equity.
Resources Radio — Nov 21, 2023
How State Trust Lands Can Help Conservation Efforts, with Temple Stoellinger
Temple Stoellinger discusses state trust lands (public lands that states own and must use to raise revenue) and the various uses of these lands, including energy development, livestock grazing, and conservation.
Resources Radio — Oct 24, 2023
When Freshwater Gets Salty, with Becky Epanchin-Niell
Becky Epanchin-Niell discusses saltwater contamination in freshwater; the causes of contamination; and how this saltwater intrusion affects drinking water, agriculture, coastal ecosystems, and economies.
Resources Radio — Oct 17, 2023
The US Wildfire Workforce, with Emily Browne
Emily Browne discusses her experience fighting and preventing wildfires in Alaska with the US National Park Service.
Report — Jan 28, 2013
Paying for State Parks: Evaluating Alternative Approaches for the 21st Century
Paying for State Parks: Evaluating Alternative Approaches for the 21st Century
Explainer — Sep 26, 2023
Flooding in the United States 101: Causes, Trends, and Impacts
This explainer details the causes, trends, and impacts of flooding in the United States.
Testimony and Public Comments — Sep 12, 2023
Comments on the National Strategy for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
This comment to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy responds to a request for information on the National Strategy for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
Working Paper — Aug 14, 2023
Welfare Losses from Wildfire Smoke: Evidence from Daily Outdoor Recreation Data
This working paper calculates the impact that wildfire smoke has on visits to public lands in the western United States, finding approximately $2.3 billion in annual welfare losses.
RFF Live — Oct 12, 2022
Sparking Solutions: Reducing Risk at the Wildland-Urban Interface
On Wednesday, October 12, Resources for the Future (RFF) hosted the second RFF Live event in the “Sparking Solutions” webinar series, where we discussed the benefits and challenges of addressing the WUI problem.
Environmental Justice Series — Mar 24, 2022
Environmental Justice: Screening Tools, EJ Indexes, and Justice40
Understanding the uses of EJ screening tools—and the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches—for Justice40 and similar programs
Environmental Justice Series — Jan 19, 2022
Environmental Justice: Research and Community Partnerships
Examining how researchers and environmental justice organizations can advance knowledge and work toward equitable solutions to environmental problems
Environmental Justice Series — Jul 21, 2021
Environmental Justice: Infrastructure Investments and Equitable Benefit-Cost Analysis
Environmental Justice: Infrastructure Investments and Equitable Benefit-Cost Analysis
Resources Radio — Dec 5, 2023
Creating an Equitable Urban Park System, with Norma García-González and Catherine Nagel
Norma García-González and Catherine Nagel discuss the social, environmental, and economic value of parks; the park system in Los Angeles County; and how data tools and community engagement can help urban park systems improve equity.
Resources Radio — Nov 21, 2023
How State Trust Lands Can Help Conservation Efforts, with Temple Stoellinger
Temple Stoellinger discusses state trust lands (public lands that states own and must use to raise revenue) and the various uses of these lands, including energy development, livestock grazing, and conservation.
Resources Radio — Oct 24, 2023
When Freshwater Gets Salty, with Becky Epanchin-Niell
Becky Epanchin-Niell discusses saltwater contamination in freshwater; the causes of contamination; and how this saltwater intrusion affects drinking water, agriculture, coastal ecosystems, and economies.
Resources Radio — Oct 17, 2023
The US Wildfire Workforce, with Emily Browne
Emily Browne discusses her experience fighting and preventing wildfires in Alaska with the US National Park Service.
Press Release — Aug 14, 2023
Western US Wildfire Smoke Costs $2.3 Billion per Year in Health Impacts and Lost Enjoyment
A new working paper, published by scholars at RFF and the University of Alaska Anchorage, finds that camping trips to public lands are worth $107 less on average if they are affected by wildfire smoke.
Media Highlight — Jul 28, 2023
National Parks Traveler: "National Park System Expansion is Key to Biodiversity Protection"
RFF Senior Fellows Margaret Walls and Rebecca Epanchin-Niell are referenced in this article about the importance of natural landscapes for species conservation.
Media Highlight — Jun 9, 2023
Semafor: "Lawmakers' Approach to the Insurance Crisis is Counterproductive"
A long-form newsletter about natural disaster insurance quotes RFF Senior Fellow Margaret Walls and cites two recent RFF papers.
Media Highlight — Jun 8, 2023
E&E News/POLITICO: "California Home Prices Drop When Fire Risks Disclosed—Report"
New RFF research on the relationship between home prices and wildfire risk disclosure in California was the subject of both a news story and newsletter segment.