Don Coursey , Ph.D.

Environmental Policy

An environmental economist, Don L. Coursey is currently developing techniques to measure how the public values arts and culture. Using methods developed in environmental studies during the 1970s, Coursey's research will generate data on how the public values such goods as education, health, safety, parks, and the arts, as well as map how individuals choose to divide consumption between these areas and within their subcategories, such as music, literature, painting, and theater. For the first time, government agencies, cultural and educational institutions, and philanthropics organizations will be able to decide how best to allocate resources to the arts and culture based on empirical data that portray the complex sets of preferences that people bring to the cultural marketplace.

Coursey has also conducted research on such issues as international environmental quality, U.S. environmental legislation, and public preferences for environmental outcomes relative to other social and economic goals. He received as B.A. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arizonia. He has received a Burlington-Northern Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teaching, the Greater St. Louis Award for Excellence in University Teaching, and the John M. Olin School of Business Teacher of the Year Award in 1989 and 1990. On numerous occasions he has been named Professor of the Year by Harris students. Coursey joined the Harris School in 1993, and from 1996 to 1998 served as Dean.