ESPP Welcomes Max Melstrom
Contact: Anisa Abid, News Writer for Environmental Science and Policy Program: (517) 432-3823 or abidanis@msu.edu
March 12, 2008
Max Melstrom is a first year graduate student in ESPP and the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics (formerly the Department of Agricultural Economics). He is one of this year's fellowship recipients at ESPP. His focus is on how environmental regulations interact with economic activity and why problems occur in making the two work together. Contrary to what some believe, "what is good for the environment is also good for the economy" he says.
He is also interested in researching the level of demand for environmental preservation and recreational resources, and how we should model different forms of valuation, such as recreational value and intrinsic value. "Different approaches to modeling this demand can therefore have a significant influence on how we assess the value of natural resources," he says.
As an undergraduate, Melstrom studied economics at Kalamazoo College. He is a Michigan native, raised in Cadillac. Melstrom spent a year in London studying environmental management and economics, which encouraged him to develop his interest in the subject. His undergraduate projects include a local-level analysis of tax increment financing (a tool to use future gains in taxes to finance the current improvements that will create those gains), and a survey of the prevalence and attributes of food gardens in urban areas.
At Kalamazoo he met ESPP student Ben Gramig, who was giving a presentation on the subject of agricultural economics, as well as Scott Loveridge, professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics and Director of Graduate Studies. His interactions with them, and MSU's status as a top school for both Economics and Agricultural Economics, encouraged Melstrom to pursue a degree here.
