Much of my research can be parsed into three cross-cutting themes: i) tradeoffs between economic efficiency and other goals (such as equity) when designing policy; ii) the relationship between property rights and collective action problems; and iii) the modern challenges and historical foundations of public resource management in the American West. By studying the contemporary legacy of past policies, my research informs the design of institutions to solve pressing resource challenges today.
Working Papers
Property Rights without Transfer Rights: A Study of Indian Land Allotment (NBER WP #27479).
Dippel, Christian, Dustin Frye, and Bryan Leonard.
Revisions requested, Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics.
Renewable Energy on American Indian Reservations.
Parker, Dominic, Sarah Johnston, Bryan Leonard, Daniel Stewart, and Justin Winikoff.
Revisions requested, Nature Energy.
The Economics of Contracting for Conservation.
Leonard, Bryan, Christopher Costello, and Kailin Kroetz.
The Value of Satellite Data in Terrestrial Habitat Corridor Design for Large Migratory Species.
Kroetz, Kailin, Laura Gigliotti, Bryan Leonard, Arthur Middleton, and Tyler Treakle.
Answering the Call: Can Alternative Transfer Mechanisms Alleviate Water Shortages?
Wright, Katherine, Andrew Ayres and Bryan Leonard.
Coase Meets Pigou: When Does Voluntary Provision on Top of Regulation Enhance Welfare?
Abbott, Joshua, Christopher Costello, and Bryan Leonard.
Published and Accepted Articles
The Essential Role of Local Context in Shaping Risk and Risk Reduction Strategies for Snowmelt-Dependent Irrigated Agriculture
Gordon, Beatrice, Gabrielle F.S. Boisrame, Rosemary W.H. Carroll, Newsha K. Ajami, Bryan Leonard, Christine Albano, Naoki Mizukami, Manuel A. Andrade, Elizabeth Koebele, Mike Taylor, Adrian A. Harpold.
Earth's Future. Forthcoming 2024.
Conservation Use on State Trust Lands
Stoellinger, Temple, Travis Brammer, Bryan Leonard, Shawn Regan, and Jonathan Wood.
Utah Law Review. Forthcoming 2024.
Late Homesteading: Indigenous Land Dispossession Through Strategic Occupation.
Allen, Douglas W. and Bryan Leonard.
American Political Science Review. 2024.
Stranded: The Effects of Inaccessible Public Land on Local Economies in the American West.
Plantinga, Andrew and Bryan Leonard.
Land Economics. 2024.
Paper Water, Wet Water, and the Recognition of Indigenous Property Rights.
Sanchez, Leslie, Eric Edwards, and Bryan Leonard.
Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. 2023.
Assessing the Ecosystem Services and Disservices Provided by Mobile Wildlife
Maher, Samantha ML, Kristin Barker, Kailin Kroetz, Van Bustic, Bryan Leonard, and Arthur Middleton.
Biological Conservation. 2023.
Multi-Level Thresholds of Residential and Agricultural Land Use for Elk Avoidance Across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Gigliotti, L.C. and P. Atwood, E.K. Cole, A. Courtemanch, S. Dewey, J.A. Gude, M. Hurley, M. Kauffman, K. Kroetz, B. Leonard, D. MacNulty, E. Maichak, D. McWhirter, T.W. Mong, K. Proffitt, B. Scurlock, D. Stahler, and A.D. Middleton.
Journal of Applied Ecology. 2023.
Bureaucratic Discretion in the Policy Implementation: Evidence from the Allotment Era.
Dippel, Christian, Dustin Frye, and Bryan Leonard.
Public Choice. 2022.
Wildlife Migrations Highlight Importance of both Private Lands and Protected Areas in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Gigliotti, L.C. , W. Xu, G. Zuckerman, P. Atwood, E.K. Cole, A. Courtemanch, S. Dewey, P. Hnilicka J.A. Gude, M. Hurley, M. Kauffman, K. Kroetz, B. Leonard, A. Lawson, D. MacNulty, E. Maichak, D. McWhirter, T.W. Mong, K. Proffitt, B. Scurlock, D.
Stahler, and A.D. Middleton.
Biological Conservation. 2022.
The Role of Private Lands in Conserving Yellowstone’s Wildlife in the Twenty-First Century.
Middleton, Arthur D., Temple Stoellinger, Drew E. Bennett, Travis Brammer, Laura Gigliotti, Hillary Byerly, Sam Maher, and
Bryan Leonard.
Wyoming Law Review. 2022.
Reconnecting Stranded Public Lands is a Win-Win for Conservation and People.
Powers, Claire, Ashley Larsen, Bryan Leonard, and Andrew Plantinga.
Biological Conservation. 2022.
The Distributional Outcomes of Rights-Based Management in Fisheries.
Abbott, Joshua, Bryan Leonard, and Brian Garber-Yonts.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2022.
Does Equality Persist? Evidence from The Homestead Act.
Kogelmann, Brian and Bryan Leonard.
Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy. 2022.
Property Right Acquisition and Path Dependence: Nineteenth-Century Land Policy and Modern Economic Outcomes.
Allen, Douglas W. and Bryan Leonard.
Economic Journal. 2021.
Allow "Non-Use" Rights to Conserve Natural Resources.
Leonard, Bryan, Shawn Regan, Christopher Costello, Dominic Parker, Kerry Smith, Andrew Plantinga, Jim Salzman, and Temple
Stoellinger.
Science. 2021.
Individualistic Culture Increases Economic Mobility in the United States.
Leonard, Bryan and Steven M. Smith.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021.
Ownership Fragmentation and Natural Resource Use: Evidence from the Bakken.
Leonard, Bryan and Dominic Parker.
Economic Journal. 2021.
Secured Transactions Laws and Economic Development on American Indian Reservations.
Feir, D., Christian Dippel, Bryan Leonard, and Marc Roark.
AEA Papers and Proceedings. 2021.
Stranded Land Constrains Public Land Management and Contributes to Larger Fires.
Leonard, Bryan, Andrew Plantinga, and Matt Wibbenmeyer.
Environmental Research Letters. 2021.
Canals, Climate, and Corruption: The Provisioning of Public Infrastructure under Uncertainty.
Vallury, Sechindra and Bryan Leonard.
Economics and Politics. 2021.
Not-So-Natural Experiments in History.
Dippel, Christian and Bryan Leonard.
Journal of Historical Political Economy. 2021.
Harnessing Visitors’ Enthusiasm for National Parks to Fund Cooperative Large Landscape Conservation.
Middleton, Arthur D., Temple Stoellinger, Harshad Karandikar, Bryan Leonard, Holly Doremus, and Claire Kremen.
Conservation Science & Practice. 2021.
Land Quality, Land Rights, and Indigenous Poverty.
Leonard, Bryan, Dominic Parker, and Terry Anderson.
Journal of Development Economics. 2020.
The Economics of Indigenous Water Claim Settlements in the American West.
Sanchez, Leslie, Eric Edwards, and Bryan Leonard.
Environmental Research Letters. 2020.
Rationing by Racing and the Oklahoma Land Rushes.
Allen, Douglas W. and Bryan Leonard.
Journal of Institutional Economics. 2020.
Virtual Parceling.
Bradshaw, Karen and Bryan Leonard.
International Journal of the Commons. 2020.
Agricultural Water Governance in the Desert: Shifting Risks in Central Arizona.
York, Abigail Hallie Eakin, Julia Bausch, Skaidra Smith-Heisters, Marty Anderies, Rimjhim Aggarwal, Bryan Leonard, and
Katherine Wright.
Water Alternatives. 2020.
Collective Action by Contract: Prior Appropriation and the Development of Irrigation in the Western United States (NBER WP #22185).
Leonard, Bryan and Gary D. Libecap.
Journal of Law and Economics. 2019.
Expanding Water Markets in the Western United States: Barriers and Lessons from Other Natural Resource Markets.
Leonard, Bryan, Christopher Costello, and Gary D. Libecap.
Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. 2019.
How Many Rushed During the Oklahoma Land Openings?
Allen, Douglas W. and Bryan Leonard.
Cliometrica. 2019.
Legal and Institutional Barriers to Establishing Non-Use Rights to Natural Resources.
Leonard, Bryan and Shawn Regan.
Natural Resources Journal. 2019.
Endogenous First-Possession Property Rights in Open Access Resources.
Leonard, Bryan and Gary D. Libecap.
Iowa Law Review. 2015.