Research
Economics of the North - and everywhere energy and sustainability meet community
I study how remote, Northern, and Indigenous communities experience energy transitions, the economic benefits they capture, the institutional frictions they navigate, and the cultural, behavioural and environmental terms on which their futures are built.
Specifically, my research program is organized around four interrelated areas that together examine how communities navigate environmental change, energy transitions, and development challenges. While each area has a distinct focus, they are analytically and empirically connected through shared methods and long-term, community-based engagement. My work falls into the following categories:
Community Energy Transitions
This line of research examines how remote, Northern, and Indigenous communities design, adopt, and govern energy systems in ways that generate local economic and social benefits. A central component is the econometric analysis of the community impacts of renewable energy, the development of community-scale input–output models that capture employment, household income, price dynamics, subsidy flows, and government revenues associated with energy projects such as biomass, geothermal, and emerging technologies.
Alongside quantitative analysis, I apply institutional economics and transaction-cost frameworks to understand why technically viable projects often stall or underperform. This includes identifying governance frictions, coordination failures, and risk allocation challenges that shape outcomes in remote contexts.
The Socioeconomic Impacts of Climate Change
This research area focuses on how climate variability and extreme events reshape local economies, particularly in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions, as well as tropical areas. Changes such as shorter ice-road seasons, shifting supply chains, and increased exposure to environmental risks have direct implications for employment, income stability, and the cost of living in remote communities.
Using a combination of quasi-experimental econometrics, spatial data, and community-level modelling, I examine how these climate-driven disruptions affect socio-economic outcomes. This work also considers the role of infrastructure and policy interventions in mitigating adverse impacts, with particular attention to energy systems as both a source of vulnerability and a pathway for adaptation.
Community Well-being and Happiness
A core dimension of my research explores how environmental and economic changes translate into lived experiences, including subjective well-being and quality of life. This includes studying how fluctuations in income, employment opportunities, energy access, and environmental conditions influence individual and collective well-being.
Behavioural and field experiments play an important role in this area, helping to uncover how preferences, social norms, and local institutions shape decision-making processes. By integrating subjective well-being measures with economic and environmental indicators, this work contributes to a more holistic understanding of development—particularly in Indigenous, rural, and low-income contexts.
Water, Nature-Based Solutions and Sustainability
This research stream examines the interconnections between energy, water, food systems, and ecological processes. It includes analysis of the energy–water–food nexus, particularly in regions where resource trade-offs are pronounced and have significant distributional consequences.
Projects in this area also explore the role of nature-based solutions in supporting climate resilience, including coastal protection, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable resource management. Work on large-scale interventions—such as inter-basin water transfers—assesses their impacts on vulnerable populations, with a focus on equity and long-term sustainability.
Snow country and sun country: from the Arctic to the Andes, from the tundra to the mangrove.
My research program is grounded in long-term, structured partnerships that span diverse environmental and social contexts. Across regions, I apply a consistent set of methodological approaches while adapting them to local realities and community priorities. This creates a circulatory model of knowledge: insights generated in one region inform and strengthen work in others.
I work in the following regions:
Canadian Arctic & Sub-Arctic
Focus on community energy transitions in remote Indigenous and Northern communities.
This includes:
- Community energy and economic modelling
- Biomass, geothermal, and micro-nuclear systems
- Wildfire recovery in Indigenous communities
- Governance of community-led energy transitions
Circumpolar North (Alaska)
Research on rural and off-grid energy systems.
Focus areas include:
- Energy cooperatives and efficiency
- Consumer savings in remote systems
- Fuel pricing and subsidy structures in isolated electricity systems
Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil)
Research on energy, infrastructure, environment, and livelihoods.
Projects include:
- Solar adoption in Indigenous highland communities
- Experimental methods using traditional games in Afro-descendant communities
- Energy–water–food nexus trade-offs
- Distributional impacts of large water infrastructure projects
Canadian Prairies, Indo-Pacific & Beyond
Research on climate resilience and nature-based solutions.
Focus areas:
- Coastal protection and ecosystem restoration
- Food security in vulnerable coastal regions
- Indigenous-led sustainability initiatives
- Comparative global climate resilience projects supported by international partnerships