主要研究 今天

作为2023年的接受者 联合国大学可持续发展研究所 终身成就奖， Ju-Chin黄 一开始不知道该怎么想.   

“这很有趣，因为这是一个终身成就奖, 所以我觉得是时候退休了,黄开玩笑地说. “But of course, I was honored to receive the award, it’s a very nice recognition.” 

黄教授是北京大学的经济学教授 彼得?. 保罗经济与商业学院它被描述为非市场估值的先驱. Her work includes economic valuation of environmental/non-public goods — putting a price tag on priceless things.   

“You have to look at the benefits and costs to improve the sustainability of the environment, so it’s important to figure out what the benefits are when we want to do something,黄说. “当我们谈论环境时，很多事情都是公共产品, it’s not like a private good that you can just purchase from the private market and there’s a price for it.”   

Examples of environmental valuation projects that Huang has worked on include the economic benefits of raising national air quality standards and the benefits and costs of beach erosion control. 黄还做过水质方面的项目, 高速公路噪声, 固体废物管理和海产品风险认知. 

Determining the price of a public good involves extensive research through direct and indirect methods. 例如, a valuation of improving the water quality at a local beach could include a direct method where Huang puts together a survey to ask people directly what they would be willing to pay to improve water quality.   

An indirect method would include collecting economic data to determine if beaches with poorer water quality make less money or get fewer visitors than beaches with better water quality, 建立成本/效益分析, 据黄说.   

在提名黄的奖项, economics professor Robert Mohr noted that Huang’s improved valuation techniques help policymakers direct resources to important environmental and resource problems. 举个例子, he cited Huang’s current work highlighting the value that recreational users place on access to Plum Island National Seashore, which supports policy decisions on preserving and maintaining this local resource.   

Huang says one thing that makes her research particularly engaging is the fact that non-market valuation applies to a wide array of industries, 她可以和科学界最聪明的人一起工作, 包括生态学家, 工程师和地质学家.   

“我和很多科学家一起工作, 这取决于主题的性质, 我真的需要依靠他们来帮助我理解事情,她说。. “It also means a lot of communication because we all look at things from different aspects. 和不同学科的人一起工作很有趣.”   

A challenging project that Huang once worked on occurred early in her academic career when she was approached by the co-director of the NOAA-主要研究 Joint Hydrographic Center about determining the value of a hydrographic survey — a survey of the ocean floor.   

Huang said the scope of the project made it a challenge because there are several potential benefits to surveying the ocean floor, 包括导航, 石油钻探和自然资源追踪, 举几个例子.   

“It’s very expensive to survey the ocean floor, as you can imagine,黄说. “They came to me to see if there was a way to come up with a benefit measure to justify their budget. 但这是一个大项目，所以我只能做其中的一小部分.”   

黄在客船协会工作 案例研究 to determine how much members were willing to pay for the most updated navigational chart information in electronic format, 为了展示更新的导航对船民的好处.  

Some of Huang’s recent collaborations include working with environmental engineers to gauge individual willingness to pay for technology to enable household 屋内重用, 包括调查波士顿和亚特兰大的社区, and working with ecologists to determine landowners' willingness to control 外来入侵植物.   

Huang says she appreciates the research process and how it can constantly evolve through survey design, 统计方法和数据分析.  

“非市场估值研究很有趣. 这一切都归结为方法, 哪一种方法可以应用于各种非市场商品的估值. 方法总是有进一步改进的空间。. “我心里还有一些想要追求的东西.”