My research interests center around policy and industrial organization questions, particularly ones related to agriculture, the environment and natural resources. I am evaluating production contracts in American agriculture. This work uses agency theory to ask why are these contracts designed as they are? What are the consequences of this design? In other current research, I am examining the factors affecting producers' pesticide use decisions. In related work, I analyze the economic impact of pesticide use regulations. I am interested in the property rights and institutions governing natural resource use. Currently I am examining the impacts of property rights design for pastoralist systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and negotiations over water rights and use in California and France. Questions include: How are traditional grazing rights different from standard economic models of property rights? How can we, as economists, model and analyze these property right regimes appropriately? Once we do so, what sort of property right regime is best for this biological and social system?