About

Gordon Rausser is the Robert Gordon Sproul Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Dean Emeritus of the Rausser College of Natural Resources, and a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. His career includes significant academic achievements, leadership roles, and numerous awards recognizing his groundbreaking research spanning over 300 articles and 19 books. His research interests encompass agricultural economics, applied econometrics, futures and options markets, industrial organization and antitrust analysis, natural resource and environmental economics, and public policy and economic regulation. Professor Rausser has received 40 distinguished research and teaching awards, including the Publication of Enduring Quality Award, Research Discovery Awards, and accolades for Best Journal Articles. He has been honored by external organizations such as the American Antitrust Institute, the USDA, and the U.S. State Department. His editorial leadership includes serving as editor for prominent journals and founding the Annual Review of Resource Economics. He was elected as a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Statistical Association, and held a Fulbright fellowship. Throughout his tenure at UC Berkeley, he demonstrated transformative leadership by restructuring the Economics Department, serving as Chair of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and as Dean of the College of Natural Resources. Under his leadership, the Berkeley-Novartis Agreement was established, becoming a model for public-private research partnerships. Post-retirement, he continued to contribute to UC Berkeley’s strategic initiatives and received the Emeriti of the Year Award. His non-academic roles include leadership positions on the Boards of Directors of over 20 private companies, trustee roles at Palo Alto University and Central European University, and government service as Senior Economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisors and Chief Economist at the U.S. State Department. His distinguished career was celebrated in a Festschrift symposium in 2019, and an edited volume published in his honor highlights his extensive academic leadership and contributions.

Research topics

• Economics
• Business
• Agricultural economics
• Political science
• Natural resource economics

Selected publications

• Alternative Bioeconomy Strategies for Decarbonization

  Natural resource management and policy · 2026-01-01

  book-chapterOpen access

  Abstract This chapter analyzes bioeconomy strategies for decarbonization, emphasizing their importance in achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050. While renewable energy plays a central role in climate mitigation, it cannot alone eliminate fossil fuel dependence due to electrification limits, storage challenges, and sectoral constraints. Bioeconomy strategies complement renewables by leveraging biological systems to capture, substitute, and remove atmospheric CO₂. These strategies are organized into three pathways: photosynthesis, thermochemical conversion, and microbial processes. Together, they enable a diverse set of technologies—ranging from biofuels and bioplastics to soil carbon sequestration and carbon-negative systems like biochar and BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage). Strategies are further categorized into carbon sequestration, carbon substitution, and carbon removal approaches. Technology readiness varies across the portfolio. Afforestation, conventional biofuels, and bioplastics are commercially mature (TRL 9), while algae-based biofuels, microbial CO₂ conversion, and genetic engineering remain in earlier development stages. Economic feasibility also ranges widely. Nature-based solutions like afforestation offer highly cost-effective mitigation ($4.2–16.9/ton CO₂), whereas algae systems and some advanced biofuels are not yet competitive without policy support. Biochar and BECCS occupy a middle ground, offering scalable carbon removal with additional co-benefits for agriculture and energy systems. The chapter calls for targeted investments, policy alignment (e.g., carbon pricing), and regional implementation strategies to scale promising bioeconomy pathways. Emerging tools such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology can further accelerate progress. By delivering both carbon mitigation and broader sustainability outcomes, bioeconomy strategies represent essential components of an integrated, resilient, and low-carbon economic future.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Building Supply Chains to Create a Climate-Smart Circular Biochemeconomy

  Annual Review of Resource Economics · 2025-10-06

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Agricultural policy: A global view

  Elsevier eBooks · 2025-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Integrating Political-Economic Industrial Policy Design in Natural Resource Sectors

  Annual Review of Resource Economics · 2025-08-11

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The debate on industrial policies has long been polarized between proponents of government intervention and free-market advocates. Proponents argue for market failure correction and industry nurturing, while opponents warn of the inability of the government to “pick winners” and its vulnerability to rent-seeking interests. What the current literature overlooks is that effective industrial policies must simultaneously design pie-expanding “public good” policies with appropriate redistribution policies to facilitate their political acceptance. Using this notion, this review proposes a new approach by extending the political-economic seeking transfer and political-economic resource transaction (PEST-PERT) portfolio framework to examine the efficacy of industrial policies in the agricultural, natural resource, and environmental sectors. Several empirical examples are presented, including payment for ecosystem services, conservation programs, agricultural policy reform, development subsidies to increase maize productivity, infrastructure development, and transportation investments. These industrial policy portfolios are dissected for two policy types: ( a ) pie-expanding policies that promote public goods, reduce transaction costs, and resolve coordination failures; and ( b ) redistributive policies often needed to overcome opposition from blocking coalitions. In each empirical study, the policy portfolio is specified, distinguishing these two types of policies.

  PublisherDOI

• Would Russian solar energy projects be possible without state support?

  Renewable Energy · 2024-12-27 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  Solar power represents the rapidly evolving sector of the Russian renewable energy industry capable of significantly reducing the cost of electricity and making it competitive in the long run. This paper tackles the puzzling question of whether Russian solar energy projects can be viable without direct state support subsidies. The novelty of the study is in assessing specific risks (political, environmental, and economic) on the total cost of projects which are caused by Russia's transition to an import substitution policy, the need to build new logistics chains for the exchange of technologies and equipment, the rise in the cost of investments, as well as continuing climate commitments. Our methodology relies upon classic investment metrics used for renewable energy projects, such as Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Discounted Payback Period (DPP). We assessed eleven projects and developed ten scenarios for studying the pathways for direct state solar energy support programs, including complete refusal, reduction in the volume, and/or timing of financial support, as well as the ability of projects to withstand the negative impact of external risks on their efficiency. Our multi-criteria scenario assessment revealed that under current market conditions, the Russian solar energy industry was not capable of functioning effectively on its own without permanent state financial subsidies (null hypothesis or the baseline scenario). Only sharp deteriorations of the foreign economic and political situation can reduce the economic efficiency by half with the effectiveness of the projects not being sensitive to minor fluctuations in risks (the first hypothesis). With a gradual reduction in the volume of financial support, we found that at the current price level, projects were able to withstand such a “discount” only within 10 % (the second hypothesis). Testing the possibilities of reducing the program terms while maintaining 100 % of funding showed that these projects remain effective with 12.5 years of support, which is 2 years shorter than the original terms (the third hypothesis). However, our results also reveal that the Russian solar energy sector still surpasses its wind energy sector in the potential to become self-reliant. All of that allows us to formulate policy recommendations for the gradual reduction of direct governmental funding for solar energy sector in Russia with the aim of pushing it further toward economic reliance and growth.

  PublisherDOI

• Developments in agri-environment schemes (AES): North America

  Burleigh Dodds series in agricultural science · 2024-10-05

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter presents an economic perspective on significant agri-environmental policies that affect U.S. agriculture and assesses some of the environmental outcomes of these policies. The authors first present a conceptual framework for designing and assessing environmental intervention in agriculture, emphasizing payment for environmental services programs (PES), which became a major agri-environmental intervention. They then explore the major agri-environmental programs affecting U.S. agriculture and other North American countries. Following this, they examine the results of studies assessing the economic and some of the environmental outcomes of agri-environmental programs in North America.

  PublisherDOI

• Uncertainty and Decision-Making in Water Resources.

  2024-03-26

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Political Economy of Industrial Policies in Natural Resources

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Harnessing the Impact of Climate Change, Technology, and Institutions for Decarbonization

  Annual Review of Resource Economics · 2024-10-07

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Preface to the Fifteenth Volume of the <i>Annual Review of Resource Economics</i>

  Annual Review of Resource Economics · 2023-10-05

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Economics. However, Gordon Rausser, our founding editor, recommended a broader scope, suggesting Annual Review of Resource Economics. Consequently, the journal encompasses the economics of agriculture, natural resources, the environment, development, and energy, adapting as these fields evolve.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• David Zilberman

  116 shared

• Leo K. Simon

  77 shared

• Harry de Gorter

  71 shared

• Jill J. McCluskey

  Washington State University

  64 shared

• Richard E. Just

  University of Maryland, College Park

  52 shared

• Johan Swinnen

  International Food Policy Research Institute

  51 shared

• Alberto Garrido

  49 shared

• Renan Goetz

  University of Girona

  49 shared

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Economics and Statistics

  University of Chicago

  1973

• Ph.D., Agricultural Economics

  University of California Davis

  1971

• M.S., Agricultural Economics

  University of California Davis

  1968

• B.S., Agriculture and Statistics

  California State University Fresno

  1965

Awards & honors

• American Antitrust Institute Award (2014)
• Secretary of Agriculture USDA for outstanding service award…
• Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service…
• Superior Unit Citation Award from the U.S. State Department…
• AAEA Distinguished Leadership Award (2020)