Kavita Sardana is an Applied Econometrician and works in the area of non-market valuation of environmental goods and services She is interested in the unbiased value estimate of non-market environmental goods. Bias may arise due to a-priori imposing a restrictive structure on the data-generating process. The significant magnitude of bias may drive the conclusive inference for policy projects in environmental decision-making. As a part of her doctoral dissertation, she worked on extending the traditional modeling techniques used to estimate the benefits of environmental goods- to incorporate choice-based sampling and heterogeneous preferences in individual choice behavior.
Currently, she is working on analyzing the validity of value estimates from the non-market valuation literature using behavioral and public economics literature. Additionally, she is supervising Ph.D. students working on ecosystem conservation/restoration in various districts of India. These studies provide scientific evidence for the link between ecosystem services and measurable economic outcomes. These studies have the potential to provide site-specific value estimates under the national commitments mandated in the Convention on Biological Diversity and Conference of Parties for conservation and bringing down the global average temperature. Also, she has supervised more than 30+ master’s theses on environmental and resource economics-related topics.
Kavita holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia and has worked as an Associate Professor of Economics at the TERI School of Advanced Studies. She has over 12 years of teaching and research experience and has taught advanced-level Econometrics and Environmental Policy courses at the undergraduate and graduate-level.
