Laura Taylor

Research Fellow

Laura Taylor is a postdoctoral research scholar in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences at Caltech and is a Research Fellow of the Ash Center’s Project on Indigenous Governance and Development. She recently completed her PhD in Economics at the University of Arizona, where she specialized in natural resource and environmental economics, economic history, and law and economics. Her research includes empirically studying the development and impacts of laws and institutions on environmental and economic outcomes, particularly focusing on the American West. She uses geo-spatial techniques to study American Indian land loss and property rights during western settlement, in addition to the impact of lack of enforcement in water rights for American Indian tribes on water quality, usage, and environmental and procedural justice.