2008 AERE Fellow: A. Myrick Freeman III
It is a good day for Bowdoin College today. Six years after Tom Crocker graduated, A. Myrick Freeman III arrived at Bowdoin as a new assistant professor of economics, and has been there ever since, for over 40 years. During that time, Rick has had an outstanding research and teaching career.
Rick is perhaps best known for his book, The Measurement of Environmental and Resource Values: Theory and Methods, which was first published in 1993 and then revised in 2003. In my class, we simply refer to this as “the Freeman book.” I’m sure many of you do as well. This book serves not only as an outstanding textbook for students, but also as an indispensable reference guide for researchers and practitioners. It, together with his 1979 book, was awarded the AERE Publication of Enduring Quality Award.
The letter of nomination for Rick states: “I do not think it is an exaggeration to suggest that all current environmental economists and graduate students have been influenced by his integration of and extensions to nearly six decades of research on the theory and practice of welfare measurement.”
Another letter writer states: “It is not an exaggeration to say that many of those in the profession, not only in the U.S. but around the world, learned much of what they know about valuation (benefit estimation) from Freeman’s book. It is hard to over-estimate the impact it has had on the profession.”
But Rick’s contributions and influence extend beyond his landmark book. For example, his early work on distributional analysis of benefits and costs foreshadowed current concerns about environmental justice and differential policy impacts across different age and socioeconomic groups. He also made important contributions to the discussions and debates about option value and quasi-option value in the mid 1980’s.
Rick’s work established non-market valuation not only as an academic subfield within economics, but also as an essential tool for practical policy analysis. And Rick has extensively and generously devoted his time and energy to making this happen. He has worked for over 20 years to make the rigorous estimation of benefits and costs of environmental regulations a part of federal policy evaluation. His early work back in 1980 for the White House Council on Environmental Quality paved the way for all of the work done since that time by the White House to compare incremental benefits and costs of regulatory programs.
Rick has been a key advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through his service on numerous EPA Science Advisory Board committees over the years. He and I have just recently worked on a major EPA report for the SAB on valuing ecosystem services, and I can say unequivocally that without Rick’s willingness to devote countless hours to the process, a process that at times was frustrating and on the brink of collapse, this interdisciplinary report for EPA would not have been possible. And this is just one example from of a long list of advisory panels on which Rick has served, not only for EPA but for the National Academy of Sciences as well.
For his landmark book on the measurement of environmental and resource values, and its role in promoting and understanding the theory and practice of welfare measurement; his selfless dedication to advancing the use of these tools in practical policy analysis; his years of public service and advisory work with EPA and other agencies and organizations dedicated to improved environmental management; and his long and distinguished research and teaching contributions, we hereby induct A. Myrick Freeman III as a 2008 Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
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