About me

Susana is Professor of Environmental Economics, former Academic Director of LSE Summer School, and Associate of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. She joined the Department of Geography and Environment in 2008, where she was Head of Department from 2017-2020, having previously worked at Imperial College London. In 2021, Susana became the Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research).

Much of Susana’s research has been in the area of social value measurement, testing and applying economic valuation techniques to a wide range of environmental, health and social impacts related to ecosystem services, wildlife conservation, air and water pollution, chemicals, climate change, low carbon technologies, and cultural heritage. She has also undertaken research on the links between subjective well-being and the environment, and more recently on using insights from behavioural economics to promote sustainable behaviours.

Susana has over 100 scientific publications, including papers in leading journals of her field (Journal of Environmental Economics & Management, Environmental & Resource Economics, Ecological Economics, Environment & Development Economics, Global Environmental Change, World Development, Environment & Planning A, Urban Studies, Energy Policy) and 4 books, including a flagship OECD book on Cost Benefit Analysis and the Environment. She has many years of experience in research, advice and policy work for research councils, government, industry, charities and international organisations.

Susana currently leads a project for the OECD evaluating the impact of chemicals on IQ, as well as projects for LSE Middle East Centre estimating preferences for climate change policies in the Gulf Region, and for water conservation in Kuwait. She sits on the Culture & Heritage Capital Advisory Board, of the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

Expertise Details

Environmental economics; Environmental policy; Environmental valuation; Social value; Cultural economics; Life satisfaction and wellbeing; Behavioural environmental economics

Measuring social value: testing and developing non-market valuation techniques, with applications to environment, health, cultural heritage and other areas of public policy

Wellbeing and the environment: exploring links between subjective well-being and the environment

Behavioural environmental economics: using insights from behavioural economics to promote sustainable behaviours

Environment; Wildlife Conservation; Energy; Creative Industries and Culture; Policy and Regulatory Bodies

· Shreedhar, G. and Mourato, S. (2020) Linking human destruction of nature to COVID-19 increases support for wildlife conservation policies. Environmental & Resource Economics 76: 963-999.

· Lawton, R., Fujiwara, D., and Mourato, S. (2020) Comparing the effect of oath commitments and cheap talk entreaties in contingent valuation surveys: A randomized field experiment. Journal of Environmental Economics & Policy 9(3): 338-354.

· Shreedhar, G. and Mourato, S. (2019) Experimental evidence on the impact of biodiversity conservation videos on charitable donations. Ecological Economics 158: 180-193.

· Fujiwara, D., Lawton, R., and Mourato, S. (2019) More than a good book: Contingent valuation of public library services in England. Journal of Cultural Economics 43(4): 639-666.

· Atkinson, G., Groom, B., Hanley, N. and Mourato, S. (2018) Environmental valuation and benefit-cost analysis in UK public policy. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 9(1): 97-119.

· Atkinson, G., Braathen, N.-A., Groom, B. and Mourato, S. (2018) Cost Benefit Analysis and the Environment: Further Developments and Policy Use. OECD, Paris.

· Hargreaves-Allen, V., Mourato, S. and Milner-Gulland. E.J. (2017) Drivers of Ecological and Socio-Economic Performance of Coral Reef Marine Protected Areas. PloS ONE 12(6): e0179394.

· Contu, D., Strazzera, E. and Mourato, S. (2016) Modeling individual preferences for energy sources: the case of IV generation nuclear energy in Italy. Ecological Economics 127: 37-58.

· O'Garra, T. and Mourato, S. (2019) Are we willing to give what it takes? Willingness to pay for climate change adaptation in developing countries. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2015; 1 DOI: 10.1080/21606544.2015.1100560

· MacKerron, G. and Mourato, S. (2013) Happiness is Greater in Natural Environments. Global Environmental Change, 23 (5). pp. 992-1000. ISSN 0959-3780

· Gibbons, S., Mourato, S. and Resende, G. (2013) The Amenity Value of English Nature: A Hedonic Price Approach. Environmental & Resource Economics, 57 (2). pp. 175-196. ISSN 0924-6460

· Atkinson, G., Bateman, I. and Mourato, S. (2012) Recent Advances in the Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity. Oxford Review of Economic Policy 28 (1): 22-47.

· Atkinson, G., Morse-Jones, S., Mourato, S. and Provins, A. (2012) When to Take No for an Answer? Using Entreaties to Reduce Protest Zeros in Contingent Valuation Surveys. Environmental and Resource Economics 51 (4): 497-523

· Cranford, M. and Mourato, S. (2011) Community Conservation and a Two-Stage Approach to Payments for Ecosystem Services. Ecological Economics 71: 89-98.

· MacKerron, G. and Mourato, S. (2009) Life Satisfaction and Air Quality in London. Ecological Economics 68: 1441-1453.

· Atkinson, G. and Mourato, S. (2008) Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 33: 317-344.

· Atkinson, G., Mourato, S. and Szymanski, S. (2008) Are We Willing to Pay Enough to "Back the Bid"? Valuing the Intangible Impacts of London's Bid to Host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Urban Studies 45(2): 419-444.