Nanette Nelson

environmental economist, the Flathead Lake Biological Station

Nanette Nelson is an environmental economist working at the Flathead Lake Biological Station.  Her primary research interest is non-market valuation – eliciting individuals willingness to make tradeoffs for goods and services not traditionally sold in markets.  She has used the contingent valuation method, choice experiments, hedonic real estate, and recreational trip models to estimate values of clean water, reduced nutrient pollution in surface water, and preventing aquatic invasive species introduction.  In the AIS sphere, Nanette has estimated the economic damages associated with dreissenid mussels in Montana and neighboring states.  Of late, she has engaged in the ongoing dialogue of best practices for benefit-cost analysis as it applies to rule-making aimed at reducing green house gas emissions that contribute to climate change.  Specifically she is interested in the topics of distributional consequences and social equity.