David Vail
Adams-Catlin Professor of Economics
Spring 2008
- Intermediate Independent Study in Economics (ECON 291)
- Sustaining Maine's Northern Forest: Economy, Ecology, and Community (ES 390)
| Phone | (207) 725-3596 |
| Title | Adams-Catlin Professor of Economics |
| Department | ECONOMICS |
| Work Location | 108 Hubbard Hall |
| dvail@bowdoin.edu |
David Vail, Adams-Catlin Professor of Economics, was trained in international affairs at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and received a PhD in economics from Yale. In the 1970s, he split his time between Bowdoin and several east African countries, where he was a rural development advisor specializing in agriculture and appropriate technology. More recently, his research and advising have focused on sustainable rural development and the role of natural resource industries – agriculture, forestry and tourism – in New England and Sweden. A sample of recent publications includes a monograph, Health Care and Tourism: A Lead Sector Strategy for Rural Maine; two articles on natural resource management in Ecological Economics, co-authored with Swedish colleagues; and nineteen op-ed articles in the Sustain Maine series.
David travels frequently to Sweden, where he has been a visiting scholar at the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics (Royal Academy of Sciences). His current project, with colleagues at the Swedish Ecotourism Association, focuses on ecotourism certification and regional tourism strategy in northwest Sweden. He is a founding board member of Stockholm University’s Swedish Program for American students.
In Maine, David is co-director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy project, Spreading Prosperity to All of Maine. In recent years, he has served on the Maine Governor’s Steering Committee on Natural Resource-based Industries, the Maine House Speaker’s Tax Reform Advisory Committee, and the University of Maine’s Tourism Advisory Committee. He does pro bono work with several non-profits, including Mountain Counties Heritage, Maine Huts and Trails, MAGIC (the Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council), and the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust.
Sustain Maine Op-Ed Articles
Spreading Prosperity to the 'Other Maine'. July 2005
Keeping Land in Trust: Crystal Spring Farm and Beyond. March 2005
Four More Years' - Long Lasting Impacts. December 2004
Sustaining Maine's Lobster Fishery: Less May Be More. July 2004
Lady Slippers, Ospreys, and November 2004. May 2004
Of Deception, War and Sustainable Energy Futures. December 2003
Work and Well-Being We are what we do. October 2003. October 2003
Ecotourism and Sustainable Development:
Maine Initiatives and Swedish Lessons. June 2003
War in Iraq and Sustainable Development at Home. March 2003
Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development:
A Story from Maine's Mountain Region. December 2002
Maine's Tax and Spending Priorities:
A Sustainable Development Perspective. October 2002
Slouching Toward Johnannesburg. August 2002
Slowing Down the Work and Consume Treadmill. June 2002
From Piecemeal Environmental Policies to Green Plans. January 2002
Sustaining the Many Values of Maine's Forests. August 2001
Tourism and Sustainable Development in Vacationland. June 2001
Donella Meadows' Legacy to Maine. May 2001