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
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Working Paper — Jun 1, 2023
Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones
Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones
Working Paper — May 4, 2023
Jobs at Risk: Sea Level Rise, Coastal Flooding, and Local Economies
This study assesses the exposure of local economies to tidal flooding in the Chesapeake Bay region, finding that nearly 50% more jobs will be exposed to 100-year flooding in 2050.
Working Paper — Mar 8, 2023
How Local are the Local Economic Impacts of Wildfires?
This working paper examines the local economic impacts of wildfires in the western United States, using two empirical approaches that investigate just how local these impacts are.
Issue Brief — Nov 30, 2022
Insurance Availability and Affordability under Increasing Wildfire Risk in California
An issue brief providing background and analysis of California's wildfire insurance coverage as wildfires are becoming more frequent and damaging across the western United States
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
Working Paper — Jun 1, 2023
Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones
Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones
Working Paper — May 4, 2023
Jobs at Risk: Sea Level Rise, Coastal Flooding, and Local Economies
This study assesses the exposure of local economies to tidal flooding in the Chesapeake Bay region, finding that nearly 50% more jobs will be exposed to 100-year flooding in 2050.
Working Paper — Mar 8, 2023
How Local are the Local Economic Impacts of Wildfires?
This working paper examines the local economic impacts of wildfires in the western United States, using two empirical approaches that investigate just how local these impacts are.
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 — Jun 6, 2023
Climate Hits Home: Flooding in Appalachia, with Nico Zegre
Nico Zegre discusses flooding in Appalachia and how governments at all levels can mitigate flooding risks and impacts.
Common Resources — Jun 1, 2023
Disclosing Wildfire Risks in Home Sales
New research finds that disclosing wildfire risks to potential homebuyers in California reduces sale prices.
Resources Radio — May 23, 2023
Climate Hits Home: Wildfires in the American West, with Kimi Barrett
Kimi Barrett discusses how climate change intensifies wildfire in the American West and the ways that communities can mitigate related risks.
Resources Radio — May 9, 2023
Climate Hits Home: Rising Seas in Norfolk, Virginia, with Skip Stiles
Skip Stiles discusses adaptation to the climate change impacts of sea level rise, increased rainfall, and coastal flooding in Norfolk, Virginia.
Press Release — Jun 1, 2023
In California, Homes That Disclose High Wildfire Risk Sell for Less
Between 2015 and 2022, California homes sold for 4.3 percent less if required to disclose high wildfire risk, a new working paper finds.
Press Release — May 4, 2023
Sea Level Rise in the Chesapeake Region May Expose Over 263,000 Jobs to Flood Risk by 2050
A new working paper has found that, due to sea level rise, approximately 87,000 more jobs near the Chesapeake Bay will be at risk of a 100-year flood event in 2050 compared to present.
Media Highlight — Apr 20, 2023
Spectrum News: “National Park Repair Backlog Nearly Doubles; GOP Lawmakers Want Answers”
RFF Senior Fellow Margaret Walls is quoted in an article in Spectrum News New York about repairs to infrastructure in National Parks.
Press Release — Feb 27, 2023
EPA Awards $1.35 Million Grant to Multi-Institutional Team for Septic Adaptation Research
Resources for the Future scholars Margaret Walls and Yanjun (Penny) Liao are part of a team that will spend the next two years researching the compound issues of climate change and septic failure in coastal Maryland.