Christopher Costello

Biography

Chris is a Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara. He joined UCSB’s faculty after receiving his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. At UCSB, he founded the Sustainable Fisheries Group and Environmental Market Solutions Lab (emLab), both focused on market solutions to environmental problems. He has served as an adviser to the Ocean Protection Council, the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, and the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, and he is a Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Property and Environment Research Center. Chris was awarded the Sustainability Science Award (Ecological Society of America, 2011), the Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Excellence in Solutions (2016), and the Innovations in Sustainability Science Award (Ecological Society of America, 2018).

Research

Chris’ research is in natural resource management under uncertainty, incomplete property rights for natural resources, and applied bioeconomics for management and conservation. In his work, he combines theoretical micro-economics with modeling and empirical analysis to inform policy on fisheries management, biological diversity, introduced species, industrial regulation, and marine policy. He has worked closely with national governments, international organizations, NGOs, and other partners from around the world to translate his research into on-the-ground action in a diverse spectrum of developed and developing countries, including Peru, Chile, Mexico, Cuba, Indonesia, China, Japan, Cambodia, United States, and European Union.