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Tracy YandleAssociate Professor

Education

  • BA, Government, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
  • MES, Environmental Studies, Baylor University, Waco, TX
  • PhD, Public Policy, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Research

I am interested in individuals and their interactions with institutions used to solve natural resource and environmental management problems.  From a theoretical perspective, I focus on the interaction of property rights and governance arrangements as I seek to understand how we can use policy interventions to change individuals’ incentives and thus their behavior.  In this effort I am working to build both our scholarly understanding of human behavior and improve natural resource management policy. 

My original focus was New Zealand’s ground-breaking ITQ (Individual Transferable Quota) system, which was a groundbreaking re-interpretation of property rights.  This research showed that ITQs are not a static policy tool, but rather are a property right which introduces institutional changes that create changes far beyond the original goals.

Today, my theoretical interest in property rights, institutions and the interaction between resource users (fishers) remains. Now, my research centers on the Southeastern United States and US Caribbean.  Here, I examine potential, new, and evolving property rights and institutional arrangements and how they influence (positively and negatively) fisher behavior.  This re-focusing has simultaneously enhanced my ability to develop funded research and diversify the cases I study.   This diversified portfolio enables me to gain a more far-reaching and nuanced understanding of the impact of property rights and institutions on fishers and their social-ecological systems.

I have been PI or Co-PI on over $900,000 of funded research projects (Georgia Sea Grant, NOAA Saltinstall-Kennedy, NOAA MARFIN, and USDA SARE) focused on the development of new markets as institutions for situations as diverse as local foods markets, lionfish in the US Virgin Islands, and oyster aquaculture.   My research is enhanced by my membership on the Scientific and Statistical Committee and the Socio-Economics Panel of the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council.

Professional Service: Since 2011, I have served as a member of the Scientific and Statistical Committee of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council – a position that gives me insights into the functioning of U.S. fisheries management in general, and detailed knowledge of the South Atlantic fisheries; while also allowing me the privilege of having a direct impact on fisheries policy. I am also an Associate Editor for Marine Resource Economics and Ecology and Society.

I enjoy teaching a variety of applied and theoretically oriented courses that expose my students to the complexity of environmental management institutions.  A primary goal of my teaching is to prepare students for the future – both in their careers and as thoughtful adults who are lifelong learners.  An important part of my teaching is engaging students in my research – both in the classroom and beyond.  As part of this commitment, I am the coordinator for the ENVS/Goizueta Business School Joint Concentration in  Environmental Management  and supervise the ENVS Internship Program.

Student Research Opportunities: Students often work with me in my research group learning the practice of research first-hand.  Students may conduct research as part of the ENVS 299/399/499 research courses.  Please see opportunities below and contact me in person or via e-mail. 

  • Interview transcription
  • Spatial Analysis (priority to students who have completed or are enrolled in ENVS 250)
  • Historic and current document analysis
  • Database development and analysis

 Interested students should contact Tracy Yandle in person or via e-mail.

Publications

  • Tracy Yandle, Jennifer Tookes, and Cynthia Grace-McCaskey. 2020. “US Virgin Islands Fishing Community Resilience: Informing a Research Agenda”  Coastal Management  . DOI: 10.1080/08920753.2020.1796191 [PDF]
  • Skyler Simnett, Sherry Larkin, Lisa House, Jennifer Tookes and Tracy Yandle.  2020. “Using Markets to Control Invasive Species: Lionfish in the US Virgin Islands.” Marine Resource Economics [PDF]
  • Gina Shamshak, Jennifer Sweeney Tookes, and Tracy Yandle 2020.  “Local Food Consumers’ willingness to pay of local seafood: How big a premium?”  Marine Resource Economics  35(1) DOI 10.1086 [PDF]
  • Jennifer Tookes, Peggy Barlett, and Tracy Yandle. 2018. "The Case for Local and Sustainable Seafood: A Georgia Example." The Journal of Culture & Agriculture. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle, Douglas S. Noonan, Beth Gazley. 2016. “Philanthropic Support for National Parks: Analysis using the Social-Ecological Systems Framework.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 45(4S): 134s-155s. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle and Scott Crosson. 2014. "Whatever Happened to the Wreckfish Fishery? An Evaluation of the Oldest Finfish ITQ Program in the United States." Marine Resource Economics [PDF]
  • Crosson, Scott, Brent Stoffel, and Tracy Yandle 2013. “Renegotiating property rights in the Florida golden crab fishery.” International Journal of the Commons
  • Kobi Abayomi and Tracy Yandle. 2012. “A Novel Method of Measuring Consolidation:  Using Conditional Lorenz Curves to examine ITQ Consolidation in New Zealand Commercial Fishing.” Marine Resource Economics 27: 303-321 [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle, Nadya Hajj, and Rafal Raciboski. 2011. “The Goldilocks Solution: Exploring the relationship between trust and participation in resource management within the New Zealand commercial Rock Lobster Fishery.” Policy Studies Journal [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle. 2010. “The New Zealand Rock Lobster Experience with Property Rights.” Section in Amber Morris (ed) Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries Catch Share Workshop Proceedings Long Beach: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.
  • Tracy Yandle and Christopher M. Dewees. 2008. “Consolidation in an Individual Transferable Quota Regime: Lessons from New Zealand, 1986–1999.”  Environmental Management (2008) 41:915–928. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle. 2008. “Rock lobster management in New Zealand: the development of devolved governance.” In:  Townsend, R.; Shotton, R.; Uchida, H. (eds).  Case studies in fisheries self-governance.  FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 504. Rome, FAO. 451p.
  • Tracy Yandle. 2008. ““The Promise and Perils of Building a Co-Management Regime: An Institutional Assessment of New Zealand Fisheries Management 1999 – 2005. Marine Policy [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle. 2007. “Understanding the Consequences of Property Rights Mis-Matches: A Case Study of New Zealand’s Marine Resources.” Ecology and Society
  • Tracy Yandle. 2006. “The Challenger Scallop Enhancement Company: Collaborative Management of a Natural Resource Based in the Private Sector” Public Administration Review [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle. 2006. “Letter to Science: Property Rights and Ocean Governance” Science 314 ( 27 October 2006) 593-595 [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle. 2006. “Sharing Natural Resource Management Responsibility: Examining Fisheries Co-Management from a Policy Network Perspective” Policy Sciences [PDF]
  • Mark T. Imperial and Tracy Yandle. 2005. “Taking Institutions Seriously: Using the IAD Framework to Analyze Fisheries Policy” Society and Natural Resources 18(6):493-509. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle. 2003. "The Challenge of Building Successful Stakeholder Organizations: New Zealand's experience in Developing a Fisheries Co-Management Regime." Marine Policy, 27(2): 179-192. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle and Christopher M. Dewees. 2003. "Privatizing the Commons … Twelve Years Later: Fishers' Experiences with New Zealand's Market-Based Fisheries Management." Chapter in Nives Dolsak and Elinor Ostrom (eds.) The Commons in the New Millennium. Boston: MIT Press.
  • Tracy Yandle. 2000. "The Impact of Governing and Economic Institutions on Energy System: A Case Study of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic." Journal of Energy and Development. 24(1):17-37.
  • Rosemary O'Leary and Tracy Yandle. 2000. "Environmental Management at the Millennium: The Use of Environmental Dispute Resolution by State Governments." Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 10(1):137-155. [PDF]
  • Rosemary O'Leary, Tracy Yandle and Tamilyn Moore. 1999. "The State of the States in Environmental Dispute Resolution" Ohio State Journal of Dispute Resolution. 14(2):515-613. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle and Dudley Burton. 1996. "Re-examining Environmental Justice: Race, Poverty, and Hazardous Waste Landfill Siting in Metropolitan Texas." Social Science Quarterly 77(3):477-492. [PDF]
  • Tracy Yandle and Dudley Burton. 1996. "Methodological Approaches to Environmental Justice: a Rejoinder" Social Science Quarterly 77(3): 520-527 [PDF]