Margaret A. Walls
Senior Fellow; Director, Climate Risks and Resilience Program
Margaret Walls is a senior fellow and director of the Climate Risks and Resilience Program, as well as cohost of RFF’s podcast, Resources Radio.
Walls’s research focuses on the impacts of extreme weather, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires on people and communities and the design of programs and policies to equitably enhance resilience to such events. She has written about the benefits of natural infrastructure, such as coastal wetlands and riparian buffers, in reducing flood damages and the evaluation of conservation investment decisions in floodplains and coastal zones. She has also evaluated the role of information and disclosure in driving household location decisions in the context of both wildfire and flood risks. In current research, she is focusing on environmental justice challenges associated with wastewater systems in rural communities facing sea level rise and working in partnership with underserved communities to find ways to invest in natural infrastructure to address coastal flooding. She has also conducted an evaluation of the federal government’s implementation of the Justice40 directive, the movement to ensure that 40 percent of the benefits of federal climate and energy investments flow to disadvantaged communities. Walls organized and hosted the six-part environmental justice webinar series at RFF, Exposure, in 2021-2022.
Walls has published widely in peer-reviewed journals on a range of natural resource and environmental issues and is the author of 36 book chapters and published reports. She is a Features Coeditor of the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, a flagship journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. She is a member of the advisory board of Cityscape and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research, a member of the advisory board for the Washington DC Environmental Justice and Racial Equity (EJRE) Assessment Tool, and a former board member of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
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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Press Release — Apr 14, 2025
Fire-Prone Regions of the American West Have Fast-Growing Job Markets
A new report from Resources for the Future finds that areas that are the most prone to wildfire in the American West are also the fastest-growing job centers.
Report — Apr 14, 2025
Job Exposure to Wildfire Risk in the American West
This report assesses job growth and wages in the West across five wildfire hazard categories.
Resources Radio — Mar 4, 2025
Reimagining Homeowners Insurance, with Carolyn Kousky
Carolyn Kousky discusses the increasing instability of homeowners insurance markets, along with potential solutions that her nonprofit, Insurance for Good, is pursuing to help increase access to insurance and advance social and environmental goals.
Resources Radio — Feb 25, 2025
Promoting Climate Adaptation by Discouraging Development, with Yanjun (Penny) Liao
Yanjun (Penny) Liao discusses a federal law that aims to limit development in certain US coastal areas, along with the effects of the law on housing, flood insurance claims, and federal spending after extreme weather events.
Report — Apr 14, 2025
Job Exposure to Wildfire Risk in the American West
This report assesses job growth and wages in the West across five wildfire hazard categories.
Explainer — Jan 3, 2025
Nature-Based Solutions 101
This explainer gives an overview of nature-based solutions, which protect places from floods and other environmental harms by weaving together nature and the built environment.
Report — Sep 23, 2024
Building Climate Resilience in Vulnerable Communities: Analyzing Designation and Use of Community Disaster Resilience Zones
Building Climate Resilience in Vulnerable Communities: Analyzing Designation and Use of Community Disaster Resilience Zones
Journal Article — Aug 5, 2024
Removing Development Incentives in Risky Areas Promotes Climate Adaptation
The study explores the long-term economic impacts of the Coastal Barrier Resources System, a policy enacted in the 1980s that made certain high-risk areas ineligible for federal flood insurance policies, public infrastructure investments, and post-disaste
Webinar — Oct 28, 2024
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Decisionmaking
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Decisionmaking
Environmental Justice Series — Mar 6, 2024
Environmental Justice: Taking Stock of Justice40
A virtual event exploring the implementation of Justice40, the US federal government's largest environmental justice initiative
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
Resources Radio — Mar 4, 2025
Reimagining Homeowners Insurance, with Carolyn Kousky
Carolyn Kousky discusses the increasing instability of homeowners insurance markets, along with potential solutions that her nonprofit, Insurance for Good, is pursuing to help increase access to insurance and advance social and environmental goals.
Resources Radio — Feb 25, 2025
Promoting Climate Adaptation by Discouraging Development, with Yanjun (Penny) Liao
Yanjun (Penny) Liao discusses a federal law that aims to limit development in certain US coastal areas, along with the effects of the law on housing, flood insurance claims, and federal spending after extreme weather events.
Resources Radio — Jan 28, 2025
The Los Angeles Fires, with Yanjun (Penny) Liao, David Wear, and Matthew Wibbenmeyer
Yanjun (Penny) Liao, David Wear, and Matthew Wibbenmeyer discuss the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, California, including the factors that exacerbated the fires, fallout from these fires, and options for mitigating fires in the future.
Resources Radio — Jan 7, 2025
2024 Year in Review on Environmental Economics, with Karen Palmer, Kevin Rennert, and Margaret Walls
Karen Palmer, Kevin Rennert, and Margaret Walls discuss notable stories from 2024 in energy and the environment and look ahead to what may play out in 2025 for insurance markets, the future of the Inflation Reduction Act, and more.
Press Release — Apr 14, 2025
Fire-Prone Regions of the American West Have Fast-Growing Job Markets
A new report from Resources for the Future finds that areas that are the most prone to wildfire in the American West are also the fastest-growing job centers.
Media Highlight — Jan 15, 2025
The New York Times: “Economic Toll of Los Angeles Fires Goes Far Beyond Destroyed Homes”
RFF Senior Fellow Margaret Walls shares her perspective on the lack of public funding needed to recover from the Los Angeles wildfires.
Media Highlight — Jan 15, 2025
The London Times: “Why California’s Insurance Crisis Leaves Wildfire Victims Helpless”
RFF scholars Margaret Walls and Matthew Wibbenmeyer comment on the state of wildfire insurance in light of the devastating fires in Los Angeles.
Media Highlight — Oct 4, 2024
Business Insider: “A Majority of North Carolina Homeowners Didn’t Have Flood Insurance. Then Helene Hit.”
RFF scholars Margaret Walls and Yanjun (Penny) Liao talk about understated flood risk in this article published in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.