Timothy Swanson


Timothy Swanson is an American economics scholar specializing in environmental governance, biodiversity, water management, as well as intellectual property rights and biotechnology regulation.
He is a professor in resource economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

Background

After attending law school at the University of Michigan, Swanson completed his PhD at the London School of Economics under the supervision of Nick Stern. Swanson currently holds the André Hoffmann Chair of Environmental Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where he is also director of the Centre for International Environmental Studies. In parallel, Swanson is also affiliated professor at the University of Cambridge. Previously he held the Chair in Law & Economics at University College London and was research Director for the United Kingdom's National Centre on Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Washington from 2004 to 2005.

Work

His research covers the issues dealing with legal reform and institution building in the areas of environment, intellectual property and technology. He has advised the governments of China, India, and many international and development agencies.
Swanson has argued that important issues in wildlife management are not a result of the tragedy of the commons as often thought, but that it lies in the failure of governments "to control access to wildlife and the land it occupies..., 'opportunity costs, alternative development priorities, governance problems and resources'."