Research interests include the incentives associated with pollution policies in a variety of contexts, the distributional effects of environmental programs, policy analysis, and a range of environmental issues. Much of my work has examined the effects of different pollution control instruments, especially the use of incentives compared to standards, in various settings, ranging from theory to empirical applications, from agricultural runoff to ground-level ozone. My interests include the distributional effects of environmental policies, and I have at times dabbled in issues relating to management of federally owned lands. I have found economics a very useful paradigm for examining human behavior in relationship to the environment and for suggesting means to correct destructive activities.

Teaching Interests:
Environmental issues are issues because there are tradeoffs involved: there are winners and losers associated with environmental protection (or with not protecting the environment). In my courses and research supervision, I encourage students to think about the gains and losses associated with a proposed policy, as well as who gains and who loses. I also try to provide them with theories and quantitative methods to analyze these problems. Understanding all sides of an issue as well as the big picture improves the ability to find solutions to these problems.

Awards and Grants
Dr. Helfand has served on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She is currently an Associate Editor of Land Economics, and she has served as Associate Editor for both the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

Selected Publications:

• Peter Berck and Gloria E. Helfand. The Case of Markets vs. Standards for Pollution Policy. Natural Resources Journal, 45(2) (Spring 2005).
• Gloria E. Helfand and Peter Berck, editors. The Theory and Practice of Command and Control in Environmental Policy. Aldershot, United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing, 2003.
• John Loomis and Gloria Helfand. Environmental Policy Analysis for Decision Making. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001.
• Gloria E. Helfand and L. James Peyton. "A Conceptual Model of Environmental Justice," Social Science Quarterly 80 (March 1999), pp. 68-83.
• Hongjin Kim, Gloria E. Helfand, and Richard E. Howitt. "An Economic Analysis of Ozone Control in California's San Joaquin Valley." Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 23 (July 1998), pp. 55-70.
• Helfand, G.E., and B.W. House. 1995. Regulating nonpoint source pollution under heterogeneous conditions. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 77: 1024-1032.
• Helfand, G.E. 1994. Pollution prevention as public policy: an assessment. Contemporary Economic Policy. 12: 104-113.
• Helfand, G.E., and J. Rubin. 1994. Spreading versus concentrating damages: environmental policy in the presence of nonconvexities. Journal of Economics and Management. 27: 84-91.
• Helfand, G.E. 1992. Standards versus standards: the effects of different pollution restrictions. American Economic Review. 81:622-634.
• Rubin J., G. Helfand, and J. Loomis. 1991. A benefit-cost analysis of the northern spotted owl. Journal of Forestry. 89:25-30.