Alex Pfaff studies how economic development affects and is affected by natural resources and environmental quality, including through public policies. He has examined the adoption and impacts of both environmental-&-resource interventions (protected areas, ecoservices payments, certifications) and development policies (roads/railroads, rights/concessions) that affect land use and forests in the US and in many developing countries. He also studies institutions for managing water quantity and quality, reductions of harmful exposures (groundwater arsenic, mercury from mining, indoor air pollution), and incentives for corporations to self-audit and disclose. Pfaff received his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.