Dr. Lucija Muehlenbachs, Professor, University of Calgary and University Fellow at Resources for the Future will be presenting:
“Drained Away: Oil Lost from First Nations Reserves”
Abstract: While the efficiency implications of common pool resources are well-known, we describe the equity implications, demonstrating oil production from common pools in Western Canada also generated stark inequities. Many oil pools underlie land straddling the borders of First Nations reserves. We find that the shared resources were disproportionately extracted by wells drilled off reserve but in close proximity to the borders. Evidence from a variety of methods suggests the drainage of First Nations oil contributed to a large drop in production on reserve between 1985 and 2005. We explore the avenues through which First Nations could have been compensated for the lost production and find none were pursued. These results provide further evidence that the current regulatory environment of the oil industry does not adequately address the dual problem of equity and efficiency in the common pool.
CV: Lucija Muehlenbachs is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary and a University Fellow at Resources for the Future. She has published extensively on the oil and gas industry, on topics such as the likelihood of inactive wells being reactivated, methane leaks from the distribution system, the impact of wells on property prices, the impacts of traffic accidents associated with shale gas truck traffic, a characterization of the chemical composition of shale gas wastewater, and the water quality impacts on rivers and streams. These papers have appeared in the American Economic Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Economic Review among other journals. She has also served as co-editor at the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and Resource and Energy Economics, and on the editorial boards of the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics, and the Canadian Journal of Economics. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta and a doctoral degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland.
Details:
Type: Hybrid
Time: Friday, March 15, 2024 from 1:00PM to 2:30PM
Location: Classroom 2115 (Ivey Business School) and Zoom (Details below)
Zoom: 976 5651 9494
Passcode: 2024
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