Bio

Dr. Rondeau has over 20 years of experience as a government economist, consultant and academic. He joined the Department of Economics at UVic in 1999 where he is currently associate professor and Graduate Advisor. A micro-economist and experimentalist, Dr. Rondeau specializes in the study of environmental and resource management issues; and in the application of experimental methods to a broad array of issues including mechanism design for environmental valuation, the private provision of public goods, and agricultural quota trading.

Dr. Rondeau is recognized internationally in the field of environmental and resource economics. He is associate editor for economics of Animal Conservation, a journal of the Royal Zoological Society of London. He was previously associate editor of Environmental and Resource Economics, the official journal of the European Association of Environmental Economists for a term of 5 years. He has served since 2002 as a member of the scientific advisory committee of Diversitas Core Project 2 on ecosystem services. He is a regular guest lecturer at the Mediterranean Agricultural Institute of Zaragoza (Spain).

Major sponsors of his research include the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the OECD, the National Agronomic Research Institute (France), the Quebec Federation of Egg Producers and the Federal-Provincial Parks council. He has advised the government of British Columbia on the economics of land use planning and the government of Tunisia on biodiversity issues.

His research has been published in internationally recognized economic journals including the Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Economics Letters, Canadian Journal of Economics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Experimental Economics, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Resource and Energy Economics; and in the two top journals in the field of Environmental and Resource economics: the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and Environmental and Resource Economics.

Dr. Rondeau obtained his PhD in economics from Cornell University in 1999. He also holds degrees from the Universities of Guelph and Sherbrooke. He previously worked as an economist for Parks Canada in Ottawa.

Publications

Selected Publications (for complete list, check Dr. Rondeau's Website):

• Linnell, J.D.C., D. Rondeau, D.H. Reed, R. Williams, R. Altwegg, C.J. Raxworthy, J.D. Austin, N. Hanley, H. Fritz, D.M. Evans, I.J. Gordon, B. Reyers, S. Redpath, and N. Pettorelli. 2010. “Confronting The Costs and Conflicts Associated with Biodiversity." Animal Conservation 13(5):428-430.
• Doyon, M., D. Rondeau and R. Mbala. 2010. "Keep It Down: An Experimental Test of the Truncated K-Double Auction." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 39(2):193-212.
• Messer, K., G.L. Poe, D. Rondeau, W.D. Schulze and C. Vossler. 2010. "Social Preferences and Voting: An Exploration Using A Novel Preference Revealing Mechanism." Journal of Public Economics 94(3-4):308-317.
• Rondeau, D. and J.A. List. 2008. "Matching and Challenge Gifts To Charity: Evidence From Laboratory and Natural Field Experiments." Experimental Economics 11(3):253-267.
• Bulte, E.H. and D. Rondeau. 2007. "Compensation For Wildlife Damage: Habitat Conversion, Species Preservation and Local Welfare." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 54(3):311-322.
• Rondeau, D. and E.H. Bulte. 2007. "Wildlife Damage and Agriculture: A Dynamic Analysis of Compensation Schemes." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89 (2): 490-507.
• Bulte, E.H. and D. Rondeau. 2005. "Why Compensating for Wildlife Damages May Be Bad for Conservation." Journal of Wildlife Management 69(1):14-19.
• Rondeau, D., G.L. Poe and W.D. Schulze. 2005. "VCM or PPM? A Comparison of the Performance of Two Voluntary Public Goods Mechanisms." Journal of Public Economics 89:1581-1592.
• Buttle, J. and D. Rondeau. 2004. "An Incremental Analysis of The Value of Expanding a Wilderness Area". Canadian Journal Of Economics 37(1):189-198.
• List, J.A. and D. Rondeau. 2003. "The Impact of Challenge Gifts on Charitable Giving: An Experimental Investigation". Economics Letters 79:153-159.
• Ferraro, P., D. Rondeau and G.L. Poe. 2003. "Detecting Other-Regarding Behavior with Virtual Players." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 51:99-109.
• Rondeau, D. and J.M. Conrad. 2003. "Managing Urban Deer". American Journal of Agricultural Economics 85(1): 266-281.
• Poe, G.L., J. Clark, D. Rondeau and W.D. Schulze. 2002. "Provision Point Mechanisms and Field Validity Tests of Contingent Valuation." Environmental and Resource Economics 23:105-131.
• Schulze, W.D., G.L. Poe, I. Bateman and D. Rondeau. 2002. "Is The Scope Test Meaningful in the Presence of Other-Regarding Behaviour?" In J.A. List and A. De Zeeuw Eds., Recent Advances in Environmental, Resource and Energy Economics Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Publisher, pp. 365-384.
• Rose, S.K., J. Clark, G.L. Poe, D. Rondeau and W.D. Schulze. 2002. "The Private Provision of Public Goods: Test of a Provision Point Mechanism For Funding Green Power Programs." Resource And Energy Economics 24:131-155.
• Rondeau, D. 2001. "Along The Way Back From The Brink." Journal Of Environmental Economics and Management 42:156-182.

Courses

ECON 203, Intermediate Microeconomics I

ECON 351, Mathematical Economics II: An Introduction to Dynamic Methods

ECON 400, Advanced Microeconomic Theory

ECON 450, Game Theory in Economics

ECON 530, Economics of Natural Resources

ECON 550, Game Theory in Economics

Research Projects

Dr. Rondeau’s most recent research projects apply experimental methods and mechanism design to contemporary environmental issues. In a project sponsored by the Quebec Federation of Egg Producers, Dr. Rondeau and Dr. Maurice Doyon from Laval University have devised a new auction mechanism for the trading of production quota among producers. Dr. Rondeau created a new market allocation mechanism designed to provide efficient trading, but also to steer the uniform auction price to the lower end of the theoretically predicted range and limit the market power of sellers in these thin markets. Experimental testing of the auction demonstrated the ability of the proposed auction to meet the goals and objectives of egg producers, and has led to its implementation in the field. Further work on this auction mechanism is underway as a different association of agricultural producers is now moving towards its implementation as well.

In another recently completed project, Dr. Rondeau and colleagues conducted field experiments to estimate the aesthetic and non-use benefits of tree plantations on private agricultural land. In this project, Dr. Rondeau was responsible for the development of a theoretical framework guiding the development of discrete choice valuation experiments with real implementations. The project aimed in part to demonstrate how experimental methods can be used to advance research and policy development in agriculture, and provide a greater understanding of the validity of non-market valuation methods. The results of this research will be an integral part of the ecological-economic model to be built as part of the proposed research project.

Dr. Rondeau has led or collaborated on several projects where experimental methods are applied to test the validity of non-market valuation methods. This work has covered the influence of altruism and other forms of other-regarding preferences on valuation results; mechanism design for testing the validity of the contingent valuation method; and a series of research experiments in the lab and in the field, testing various approaches to enhance private contributions towards the funding of public goods. In the most recent of these projects, Dr. Rondeau designed a novel payment mechanism for a study of the costs of conservation rules on residents of rural Uganda. The mechanism led to a significant reduction in the number of protest bids and outliers.    

Dr. Rondeau also conducted several studies on the economics of human-wildlife conflicts on agricultural land and in suburban areas. He has studied the economics of conflicts with deer, wolf, elephants, and wildebeest, investigating alternative management strategies both theoretically and numerically in order to recommend optimal action plans.