Speaker Biographies
Mary Shirley is a founder and President of the Ronald Coase Institute, which advances research on the rules, laws, norms, and customs that shape real-world economies. Prior to that she worked for over 20 years in World Bank research. She has published numerous scholarly articles and books on new institutional economics, economic development, and privatization of state owned enterprises.
Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Board of Directors, Ronald Coase Institute.
Research Group on Political Institutions and Economic Policy, Harvard University.
Erskine Professor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2019
Pitt Professor, Economics Faculty, Cambridge University, 2010-11. Fellow, Cliometric Society, 2016-
President, 2006, Economic History Association.
President, 2006, Western Economics Association International.
President, 2005, International Society for the New Institutional Economics.
Co-Editor: “Economic Perspectives on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Water,” National Bureau of Economic Research and USDA, University of Chicago Press. 2022.
Co-Editor, Journal of Economic History, 1996-2000.
Board of Editors, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2005-2010.
Co-Editor: The Economics of Climate Change: Adaptations Past and Present, NBER and University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Board of Editors, Explorations in Economic History, 1985-1992.
Institutional Economics.
“Elinor Ostrom Lifetime Achievement Award,” June 2021, SIOE, Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics
I am an Assistant Professor at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University Bloomington.
I am an environmental and natural resource economist who studies how property rights and institutions shape land and water use, with implications for conservation, public health, and economic development in Brazil, India, and the United States.
My research and teaching focus on the intersection of environmental economics and informatics . By combining causal inference, satellite data, and economic theory, I aim to contribute to evidence-based insights to inform policies that balance growth, equity, and sustainability.
I’m a 3rd year PhD student in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I also hold a Masters degree in Economic Development from Lund University, Sweden and a Bachelors in Economics from India. I am interested in exploring how climate change affects global food systems and how trade and policy decisions can help or hinder adaptation.