Dr Darla Hatton MacDonald: comparing theoretical predictions with observed outcomes.

Dr Darla Hatton MacDonald: natural resource economist

Dr Darla Hatton MacDonald is a natural resource economist, specialising in non-market valuation and the design of smart policy instruments.

• 6 December 2007 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications 
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Darla Hatton MacDonald is the Stream Leader of the Policy and Economic Research Unit (PERU) within CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.

Her current research lies in the application of economic theory and principles to enhance our understanding the linkages between human behaviour and the bio-physical and/or built environments.

Dr Hatton MacDonald's current research projects also include:

• Australian natural resource management issues centred around:
  • choice modelling
  • incorporating externalities in the price of water
  • developing of market based instruments
  • property rights
  • institutional arrangements
• choice modelling ensuring that non-market benefits of the environment are given a quantitative edge and included in decision making
• projects in the Urban Water Economics program of the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
• completing research in the role of time preferences and payment vehicles in society’s willingness to pay for habitat preservation.

Background

Dr Hatton MacDonald joined CSIRO in 2000 as a Research Scientist, and was a Senior Research Scientist in 2004 prior to taking on her current role.

Before joining CSIRO, Dr Hatton MacDonald worked in Canada as:

• an economist for the Alberta provincial government
• a lecturer and graduate research assistant at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Academic qualifications

Dr Hatton McDonald has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1988
• Master of Arts from the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1990 
• Doctor of Philosophy, also from the University of Alberta, in 1998.

Achievements

Dr Hatton MacDonald has been asked to present as a speaker at the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) conference in Moscow, Russia, and at a number of national forums on the issue of externalities, water and reuse of wastewater.

She is a member of a number of professional associations including the:

• Australian Agricultural Resource Economics Association
• Association of Environmental and Resource Economics.

Read more about how CSIRO is Assisting smart water policy design.