The 11th Occasional California Workshop on Environmental and Resource Economics will attract experts from across the world to UCSB today and tomorrow.

Sponsored by the UC Energy and Environmental Initiative, the UCSB Dept. of Economics, the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and the Ivory Tower Winery, the event will allow faculty members and doctoral students as well as researchers from government agencies to share their findings on environmental and natural resource economics. Topics to be presented at the workshop will include climate change economics, econometric innovations and hypothetical contributions to environmental policy.

Economics professor Robert Deacon, founder of the workshop, said participants have the unique opportunity to share experiences in conducting research with their academic peers.

“The [workshop] will help bring these individuals up to date with the latest results and methods used in conducting research on these topics,” Deacon said in an e-mail. “[The workshop also] allows doctoral students who are completing their research and about to enter the job market an opportunity to present their work to an audience of top professionals in their field of study.”

Daniel K. Saunders, a UCSB graduate student in economics, said he will be participating in a session concerning transportation and environmental policy.

“One of my fields is environmental economics, so I volunteered to review some submitted papers in order to participate in the [workshop],” Saunders said in an e-mail. “I am considering a career in academia and this conference offers me a preview of that line of work.”

Created by Deacon and colleague Charlie Kolstad, the first workshop in May 1993 drew a small number of participants aimed primarily towards adjusting policy that affects California universities and government agencies. Now, the workshop continues to grow dramatically each year.

“As the workshop grew in prominence, we were forced to move to larger and larger venues,” Deacon said. “The popularity of this event has also forced us to be more selective in choosing papers that were submitted for inclusion on the program. The Occasional Workshop is now one of the more prominent gatherings in the profession and this year will attract about 120 participants.”

Further details and a full schedule of the event can be found on the event Web site, http://www.calworkshop.com.