Marit Ellen Kragt

Nationality:

Qualifications:

BSc Environmental Science - Wageningen University, the Netherlands 2001
MSc Environmental Management - Wageningen University, the Netherlands 2005
MEc Economics - ANU 2006

[View CV]

PhD programme:

Environmental Management and Development - Environmental Economics

Supervisor(s) and panel members:

Professor Jeff Bennett, Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU
Professor Tony Jakeman, Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management centre (iCAM), Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU
Dr Lachlan Newham, Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management centre (iCAM), Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU

Topic title and description:

Integrating Economic Values in Catchment Models

Changes to land use and land management in Australian catchments have led to pressures on water resources and concerns over water quality and ecosystem health in both rivers and estuaries. There is limited information about the environmental and economic trade-offs of changed water quality in rivers and estuaries.

In this research, an integrated model will be developed for a case-study of the George catchment in Tasmania. The model aims to assess the ecological and economic effects of changes in land use and natural resource management in the George catchment. A hydrological-water quality will be developed to predict the changes in water quality in the George rivers and estuary. A probabilistic Bayesian Network modelling approach will be used to assess the subsequent impacts of water quality changes on river and estuary ecology.

A Choice Experiment will be conducted to elicit the non-market values affected by changes in water quality. This CE will not only assess the non-market values of rivers and estuaries, but also address some methodological challenges associated with the CE valuation technique.

This research is supported by the Environmental Economics Research Hub and Landscape Logic, both of which are funded through the Australian Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility.

Scholarships and Fellowships:

• Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility (CERF) grant through the Environmental Economics and Landscape Logic Research Hubs (March 2007)
• Robert Jones Productivity Commission Prize for the Masters of Economics (December 2006)
• Dutch Government Award for Talented Students (June 2005)
• Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Study Grant (June 2005)

Publications:

Journal Papers

• Kragt, M.E., Roebeling, P.C. & Ruijs, A. (2009) Effects of Great Barrier Reef degradation on recreational reef-trip demand: a contingent behaviour approach, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 53 (2): 213-229

Conference Paperss

• Kragt, M.E., Newham, L.T.H. & Jakeman, A.J. (2009) A Bayesian network approach to integrating economic and biophysical modelling. 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand and International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, Cairns, 13-17 July 2009

• Kragt, M.E. & Bennett, J.W. (2009) Integrated Hydro-Economic Modelling: Experiences from an Australian Catchment. 17th Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Amsterdam, 24-27 June 2009

• Kragt, M.E. & Bennett, J.W. (2009) What’s appropriate? Investigating the effects of attribute framing and changing cost levels in Choice Experiments. 17th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Amsterdam, 24-27 June 2009

• Kragt, M.E. and Bennett, J.W. (2009) Using choice experiments to value river and estuary health in Tasmania with individual preference heterogeneity. 53rd Annual Conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Cairns, 10-13 February 2009

• Kragt, M.E. (2008) Integrated assessment of environmental and economic uncertainty in catchment modelling. 3rd Annual Conference of the Australia & New Zealand Regional Organisation of the Society for Risk Analysis. Canberra, 30 Sept – 1 Oct 2008

• Kragt, M.E., Bennett, J., Lloyd, C and Dumsday, R (2007) Comparing Choice Models of River Health Improvement for the Goulburn River. 51th Conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, Queenstown, 13 – 16 February 2007

• Kragt, M.E. and Roebeling, P.C. (2004). Modelling Recreational Demand under Great Barrier Reef Degradation. World Conference on Natural Resource Modelling 2004, Melbourne, 12-15 December 2004

Reports

• Kragt, M.E. and Bennett J. (2009) What’s appropriate? Investigating the Effects of Attribute Framing and Changing Cost Levels in Choice Experiments,
  EERH Research Report No.17

• Kragt, M.E. and Bennett J. (2009) Using Choice Experiments to value River and Estuary Health in Tasmania with Individual Preference Heterogeneity,
  EERH Research Report No.16

• Kragt, M.E. and Bennett J. (2009) Integrated Hydro-Economic Modelling: Challenges and Experiences in an Australian Catchment,
  EERH Research Report No.15

• Kragt, M.E. and Bennett J. (2009) Designing Choice Experiments to Test for Anchoring and Framing Effects,
  EERH Research Report No.10

• Kragt M., and Bennett J. (2008) Developing a questionnaire for valuing changes in Natural Resource Management in the George Catchment, Tasmania,
  EERH Research Reports No.8

• Bennett, J., Dumsday, R., Lloyd, C. and Kragt, M. (2007). Non-Use Values of Victorian Public Land: Case Studies of River Red Gum and East Gippsland Forests. Report prepared for the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, URS, 1 June 2007.

• Steele, P. and Kragt, M.E. (October 2005). Sustaining Pro-Poor Growth or Boom and Bust? The Politics of Natural Resources, internal working paper OECD-DAC Environet.

• Smith, D.M., Roebeling, P.C., Webster, A.J., Kragt, M.E., Bohnet, I. and Zull, A. (2005). Assessment of the Socio-Economic Impacts of Management Options for Improving Water Quality in the Douglas Shire, Project Report, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Townsville.

• Hein, L., Wessel, G., Groot, R.S. de, Ierland E.C. van, Kragt, M.E. (2004). AEMBAC Work Package 12. Agri-environmental measures: A case study for the Netherlands: Gelderse Vallei, Report for AEMBAC project, Environmental System Analysis Group and Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

Employment history:

2008 - present. The Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU. Lecturer ‘Introductory Statistics’ as part of the Introductory Academic Program (postgraduate)

2008 - present. The Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU. Lecturer ‘Quantitative Research Methods’ as part of the course ‘Tools and Processes for Environmental Management’ EMDV8102 (postgraduate)

2007 - present. Various consultancies on non-market valuation projects, ranging from assessing the "Non-Use Values of Victorian Public Lands” to “Recycling of Electronic Waste”

2007-present The Fenner School of Environment, ANU. Lecturing ‘Socio-economic modelling’ as part of the course ‘Environmental Modelling’ MATH3133 (undergraduate and postgraduate)

2006 The School of Economics, ANU. Tutoring Micro-Economics and Foundations of Economic Models.

2005 Department of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands. Consultant for OECD-DAC project 'Pro-Poor Growth and the Environment'.

Mailing address:

The Crawford School of Economics and Government
Building 13, Ellery Crescent
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia