Leslie C. Sanchez
I am a Research Economist at the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, CO. My work combines economics, law, and policy to assess how institutions governing land and water shape resource management and economic development. I use causal inference methods to analyze the long-running effects of historical policies that determine how resources are used and who benefits from their use. In doing so, my research helps shape more sustainable, equitable resource use going forward.
I am especially interested in how institutional path dependencies stemming from historical policies shape equity and efficiency outcomes in water and land use. This has led me to focus on the effects of federal and state policies towards tribes in the western US; opportunities and challenges to tribal water use; opportunities and challenges to water marketing; and the root causes of environmental injustices.
