Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

The Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) was founded in 1979 in the United States as a means of exchanging ideas, stimulating research, and promoting graduate training in environmental and natural resource economics. The majority of its members are affiliated with universities, government agencies, non-profit research organizations, and consulting firms. Many of AERE's members hold graduate degrees in economics, agricultural economics, or related fields, but there are numerous student members as well. The organization also serves many non-specialist members with environmental policy interests. AERE has over 1,000 members from more than thirty different countries.^[1] AERE is generally acknowledged as the primary professional organization for Environmental and Natural Resources economists in the USA.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] The European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists is its European equivalent.^[6]

Journals

AERE has two journals: the Journal of the Association for Environmental and Resource Economists (JAERE), and the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy (REEP). JAERE publishes original, full-length research papers that offer substantial new insights for scholars of environmental and resource economics, while REEP focuses on widely accessible review-style articles related to the latest thinking on environmental economics and policy.

Meetings and Workshops

AERE hosts the AERE Summer Conference, which takes place in late May or early June of each year and lasts about three days.^[7] The conference includes plenary sessions, AERE’s annual Awards Luncheon, and many parallel research sessions. Recent locations of the AERE Summer conference include Washington, DC (2024), Portland, ME (2023), and Miami, FL (2022).

In addition to the annual conference, AERE co-sponsors the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, which is held every four years. AERE organizes sessions at the annual meetings of other economic organizations (Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) / American Economic Association, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Eastern Economics Association, Midwest Economics Association, Southern Economic Association, and Western Economic Association International).

AERE also hosts several virtual workshops. The AERE Fall Workshop is held online in the early fall of each year.^[8] In 2022, AERE began hosting OSWEET sessions online, originally founded as the Online Summer Workshop in Environmental, Energy, and Transportation economics in summer 2020.^[9] AERE@OSWEET takes place approximately monthly during the academic year.

Students and Early Professionals

AERE has multiple programs to support graduate students and early professionals.

AERE’s Graduate Student Engagement (GSE) Committee maintains several efforts to include and develop the skills of graduate students in environmental and resource economics. The Graduate Student Engagement Committee organizes the Professional Development Panel Series, which includes quarterly panels where experienced scholars share their wisdom and experiences.^[10] These conversations are tailored specifically for graduate students and include topics such as effectively communicating research through writing and talks, effective and efficient teaching, and preparing for the academic job market. In addition to the panels, the GSE Committee also organizes graduate student meetups at conferences.

To help early-career scholars succeed and increase diversity in environmental and resource economics, AERE created the AERE Scholars Program.^[11] This program is aimed at early-career scholars no more than five years post PhD. AERE Scholars are matched with mentors who must have a minimum of five years of professional experience. Scholars and Mentors participate in workshops and other development opportunities.

Awards

AERE confers four annual awards for contributions to the field of environmental and resource economics as well as Distinguished Service Award, given periodically.^[12] The first of the annual awards is the Wallace E. Oates Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, which is awarded to a recent graduate with a dissertation with original research, quality of implementation, and intellectual and practical significance of research findings. AERE also chooses up to three AERE Fellows to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the profession of environmental and resource economics. Each year since 1989, AERE has also recognized works that are of seminal nature and with enduring value in environmental and resource economics through the AERE Publication of Enduring Quality (PEQ) award. Finally, AERE selects an outstanding research paper published in JAERE during the calendar year for the Ralph C. d’Arge and Allen V. Kneese Award for Outstanding Publication. All of these awards are announced at the AERE Summer Conference.

Sister organization

AERE maintains an affiliation with its European sister organization, the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, founded in 1990. Many environmental economists hold memberships in both AERE and EAERE.