Director, Center for the Blue Economy
Program Chair, International Environmental Policy
Associate Professor, International Environmental Policy
I am passionate about: Living sustainably, not just preaching/teaching it.
What excites me about being a professor at MIIS: Seeing the amazing things our students are doing around the world. It is truly inspiring. I am always happy to talk with prospective, current, and former students by phone, skype, or in person. Please email me to set up an appointment.
Jason Scorse completed his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics at UC-Berkley in 2005 with a focus on environmental economics and policy, international development, and behavioral economics. Upon graduation, he joined the faculty of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He teaches courses in environmental and natural resource economics, ocean and coastal economics, and sustainable development. In 2009 he was promoted to the Chair of the International Environmental Policy (IEP) program, and as of 2011 Professor Scorse is also the Director of the new Center for the Blue Economy, whose mission is “to promote ocean and coastal sustainability.” Professor Scorse has consulted for major environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Sierra Club.
Dr. Scorse has published articles in American Economic Review, California Management Review, The Solutions Journal, and for books published by the Brookings Institution and Routledge Press. He is also the lead non-market economist for the National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP), for which he contributes to major national reports. In 2010 his book, What Environmentalists Need to Know About Economics, was published by Palgrave Macmillan. His work has also been featured in The New York Times, Fortune, and The Washington Post.
Dr. Scorse also sits on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Research Activities Panel and on the board of Save Our Shores. In his spare time he surfs, cooks gourmet vegan food, and writes fiction for when he starts his new career after we’ve solved all of the world’s great environmental challenges.
Expertise
Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, Behavioral Economics, International Economics & Development
Recent Accomplishments
Professor Scorse’s major accomplishment over the past two years has been launching the new Center for the Blue Economy (CBE). Dr. Scorse is thrilled with the Center’s success so far, and is confident that it will make the International Environmental Policyprogram at the Monterey Institute the premier destination for aspiring ocean and coastal resource management professionals.
He is currently spending almost all of his time building the new Center, including hiring faculty and staff, developing the Ocean and Coastal Resource Management curriculum, securing research funding, working with our visiting scholars, organizing the International Marine Policy Speaker series, expanding the Summer Fellows program, mapping out a strategic plan for the years ahead, and preparing to launch our new Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics (JOCE) in 2014.
Professor Scorse is also beginning to get involved in the national campaign to divest fossil fuel holdings from college endowments, believing that this could provide a major breakthrough in advancing climate change policy. He plans to finish a paper on the topic by spring 2014. His other current research includes new surfonomics work, a soon-to-be-released book chapter on “Ecosystem Services and their Economic and Social Value,” an article on the looming fiscal crisis in U.S. coastal states besieged by climate change, and updates to the non-market work done by the National Ocean Economics Program.
Education
Ph.D. UC-Berkeley, M.S. UC-Berkeley; M.S. UC-Santa Cruz; B.A. UC-Santa Cruz
In the News
Scorse, Jason. “Cheap Gas Hurts The Middle Class.” Fortune 6 December 2012.
Scorse, Jason (and Judy Kildow). “End Federal Flood Insurance.”The New York Times 28 November 2012.
Thomas, Gregory. “Surfonomics quantifies the worth of waves.”The Washington Post 24 August 2012.
Scorse, Jason. “My Word: Must never take coast’s economic value for granted.” Oakland Tribune 10 July 2012.
Publications
Scorse, Jason. What Environmentalists Need to Know about Economics. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2010.
Scorse, Jason (2010). 
Freeing the Market to Address Climate Change. The Solutions Journal,1(6):29-32.
Harrison, Ann, and Scorse, Jason. (2010). Multinationals and Anti-sweatshop Activism, American Economic Review, 100(1): 247–273.
Scorse, Jason. (2009) Non-Market Valuation of Ocean Resources in the National Ocean Economics Report (Judy Kildow ed.), National Ocean Economics Program, Moss Landing, CA.
Harrison, Ann & Scorse, Jason. (2009).Do Foreign Firms Pay More? Evidence from the Indonesian Manufacturing Sector inLabour Markets and Economic Development, (Ravi Kanbur and Jan Svejnar eds.), Routledge Press, New York.
Scorse, Jason. (2009).Making Matters Worse. The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Response, 1(1):1-6 中文
Harrison, Ann & Jason Scorse. (2006).Improving the Conditions of Workers? Minimum Wage Legislation and Anti-Sweatshop Activism. California Management Review, 2 (48):144-160. (Also issued as a Harvard Business School case study) Harrison, Ann & Scorse, Jason. 2004.
Harrison, Ann & Jason Scorse. (2004). The Impact of Globalization on Compliance with Labor Standards: A Plant- Level Study in Brookings Trade Forum 2003 (Susan Collins and Dani Rodrik eds.), Brookings Institution Press, Washington D.C.
Scorse, Jason. (2001). Reflections on the Free Trade Debate.Economia Rural, 1 (12):8-11.
Working Papers
Does Being a “Top 10” Worst Polluter Affect Facility Environmental Releases? Evidence from the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory (coauthored with Wolfram Schlenker), 2012.
Environmental Policy and the Social Contract, 2012.
The WTO’s Environmental Mandate, 2011.
The Capitalist Conundrum, 2010.
Moving Beyond the Stale “Environment vs. Economy” Debate, 2010
Book review of Economic Thought and U.S. Climate Change Policy. Edited by David M. Driesen. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press, 2010.
Strong-Cvetich, Nikolas and Scorse, Jason. (2008). Ecotourism in Post-Conflict Peace-Building: A New Tool for Reconciliation?Ecoclub: International Ecotourism Magazine, 8 (96):10-17.
Why Environmentalists Should Embrace Economics, 2006.
Do Foreign Firms Pay More? Evidence from the Indonesian Manufacturing Sector 1990-1999. International Labor Organization,Working Paper No. 98, 2005 (coauthored with Ann Harrison and submitted).
Is There Acquiescence in Yes-No Questions? (coauthored with Michael Hanemann & Jon Krosnick), 2005.
Harrison, Ann & Jason Scorse. 2004. Moving Up or Moving Out? Anti-Sweatshop Activists and Labor Market Outcomes, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No. w10492.
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