Publications
All published and accepted articles, most recent first. See Research for papers organized by topic, or Working Papers for work in progress.
Why the Rush? Land Laws, Rushes, and the Settlement of the American West
Douglas W. Allen, Bryan Leonard
Cambridge University Press, 2026
Property Rights without Transfer Rights: A Study of Indian Land Allotment
Christian Dippel, Dustin Frye, Bryan Leonard
Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics, Forthcoming 2027 | NBER WP #27479
NBER
Media Coverage (3)
Late Homesteading: Indigenous Land Dispossession Through Strategic Occupation
Douglas W. Allen, Bryan Leonard
American Political Science Review, 2025
State Trust Land Revenue Diversification Through Conservation
Temple Stoellinger, Travis Brammer, Bryan Leonard, Shawn Regan, Jonathan Wood
Utah Law Review, 2025
Media Coverage (7)
- UW News: “UW Experts’ Article on State Trust Lands Wins National Honor”
- Resources Radio (RFF) Podcast: “How State Trust Lands Can Help Conservation Efforts”
- American Bar Association Trends: “Valuing Conservation of State Trust Lands”
- C3 News Magazine: “Unleashing New Potential for State Trust Lands”
- Environmental Law Reporter (ELI)
- PERC: “Diversifying State Trust Land Revenue Through Conservation Uses”
- PERC: Publication feature
Water is the True Wealth in a Dry Land: Prior Appropriation and the Settlement of the Arid West
Bryan Leonard, Steven M. Smith
Journal of Historical Political Economy, 2025
Economic Potential of Wind and Solar Resources in American Indian Communities
Dominic Parker, Sarah Johnston, Bryan Leonard, Daniel Stewart, Justin Winikoff
Nature Energy, 2024
Media Coverage (14)
- Nature Energy: “Refining Native American Clean-Energy Opportunities” (News & Views)
- Nature Energy: “Retrospective on Research in 2024” (highlighted)
- Wisconsin Public Radio: “Study Finds Streamlining Energy Regulations Could Ease Poverty on Tribal Lands”
- MinnPost: “Why Aren’t Tribal Nations Installing More Green Energy? Blame ‘White Tape’”
- Corporate Knights: “Bureaucratic ‘White Tape’ Is Hampering Green Energy Projects on Indigenous Reservations”
- Reason: “Many Native Americans Struggle with Poverty. Easing Energy Regulations Could Help.”
- Tribal Business News: “Q+A: Professor Dominic Parker on Why Tribal Lands’ Renewable Potential Remains Untapped”
- Phys.org: “Streamlining Energy Regulations on Native American Reservations Could Help Alleviate Poverty”
- UW-Madison News
- Eurasia Review
- The Daily Cardinal
- PERC
- UW-Madison AAE Department
- LandApp: “Renewable Energy Development on Tribal Lands”
Stranded: The Effects of Inaccessible Public Land on Local Economies in the American West
Andrew Plantinga, Bryan Leonard
Land Economics, 100(3): 421, 2024
Media Coverage (3)
The Essential Role of Local Context in Shaping Risk and Risk Reduction Strategies for Snowmelt-Dependent Irrigated Agriculture
Beatrice Gordon, Gabrielle F.S. Boisrame, Rosemary W.H. Carroll, Newsha K. Ajami, Bryan Leonard, Christine Albano, Naoki Mizukami, Manuel A. Andrade, Elizabeth Koebele, Mike Taylor, Adrian A. Harpold
Earth’s Future, 2024
Media Coverage (8)
- ScienceDaily: “Western Agricultural Communities Need Water Conservation Strategies”
- Phys.org: “Western Agricultural Communities Need Water Conservation Strategies”
- DRI Press Release
- Smart Water Magazine
- Innovation News Network
- Eurasia Review
- Environmental News Network
- MultiSector Dynamics: Research highlight
Paper Water, Wet Water, and the Recognition of Indigenous Property Rights
Leslie Sanchez, Eric Edwards, Bryan Leonard
Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2023
Media Coverage (8)
- Grist: “Tribes Could Lease Their Water to Dry States. Why Is It So Hard?”
- Hoover Institution: “Federal Barriers Limit Native American Benefits From Water Right Settlements”
- NC State News: “Study: Tribal Water Rights Underutilized in U.S. West”
- NC State Audio Abstract Podcast: “Water Rights”
- WaterWorld: “Tribal Water Rights Underutilized in U.S. West”
- PERC
- Mercatus Center
- NC State CALS Extension: “Tribal Water Rights Play an Important Role”
Multi-Level Thresholds of Residential and Agricultural Land Use for Elk Avoidance Across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
L.C. Gigliotti, P. Atwood, E.K. Cole, A. Courtemanch, S. Dewey, J.A. Gude, M. Hurley, M. Kauffman, K. Kroetz, B. Leonard, D. MacNulty, E. Maichak, D. McWhirter, T.W. Mong, K. Proffitt, B. Scurlock, D. Stahler, A.D. Middleton
Journal of Applied Ecology, 2023
Assessing the Ecosystem Services and Disservices Provided by Mobile Wildlife
Samantha ML Maher, Kristin Barker, Kailin Kroetz, Van Butsic, Bryan Leonard, Arthur Middleton
Biological Conservation, 2023
The Distributional Outcomes of Rights-Based Management in Fisheries
Joshua Abbott, Bryan Leonard, Brian Garber-Yonts
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022
Media Coverage (4)
Bureaucratic Discretion in Policy Implementation: Evidence from the Allotment Era
Christian Dippel, Dustin Frye, Bryan Leonard
Public Choice, 2022
Wildlife Migrations Highlight Importance of both Private Lands and Protected Areas in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
L.C. Gigliotti, W. Xu, G. Zuckerman, P. Atwood, E.K. Cole, A. Courtemanch, S. Dewey, P. Hnilicka, J.A. Gude, M. Hurley, M. Kauffman, K. Kroetz, B. Leonard, A. Lawson, D. MacNulty, E. Maichak, D. McWhirter, T.W. Mong, K. Proffitt, B. Scurlock, D. Stahler, A.D. Middleton
Biological Conservation, 275, 2022
Media Coverage (10)
- WyoFile: “Study Reveals Yellowstone Elk Reliance on Unprotected Private Land”
- Wyoming Public Media: “Development and Elk Migration Can Coexist in Greater Yellowstone”
- Mountain Journal: “Why ‘Yellowstone’ Rancher John Dutton Says ‘Progress’ Is Destroying The Wild Rural West”
- Casper Star-Tribune
- Land Trust Alliance: “Private Land Supports Yellowstone Wildlife”
- Yellowstonian: “Why Greater Yellowstone’s Wildlife Migrations Matter”
- Western Landowners Alliance: “Importance of Private, Working Lands to Yellowstone”
- Wyoming Tribune Eagle
- SVI News
- Daniel Schwab Wyoming Blog
Reconnecting Stranded Public Lands is a Win-Win for Conservation and People
Claire Powers, Ashley Larsen, Bryan Leonard, Andrew Plantinga
Biological Conservation, 2022
Media Coverage (2)
Does Equality Persist? Evidence from The Homestead Act
Brian Kogelmann, Bryan Leonard
Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, 2022
The Role of Private Lands in Conserving Yellowstone’s Wildlife in the Twenty-First Century
Arthur D. Middleton, Temple Stoellinger, Drew E. Bennett, Travis Brammer, Laura Gigliotti, Hillary Byerly, Sam Maher, Bryan Leonard
Wyoming Law Review, 22(2), 2022
Allow “Non-Use” Rights to Conserve Natural Resources
Bryan Leonard, Shawn Regan, Christopher Costello, Dominic Parker, Kerry Smith, Andrew Plantinga, Jim Salzman, Temple Stoellinger
Science, 373(6558), 2021
Media Coverage (12)
- E&E News / POLITICO: “Could ‘Non-Use’ Rights Boost Conservation Lands?”
- High Country News: “Conservation Groups Should Be Able to Lease Land to Protect It”
- PolicyEd / Hoover Institution: “Nonuse Rights: An Innovative Way to Conserve Natural Resources” (video)
- Legal Planet: “Conservation Should Be Allowed to Pay Its Own Way on Public Lands”
- The Regulatory Review (Penn Law): “The Perils of Use-It-or-Lose-It Public Lands Policy”
- Phys.org
- Newswise / ASU: “Conservation Challenges on Public Land”
- emLab (UCSB)
- PERC: “PERC Research in Science Magazine”
- Science (response letter): “Environmental ‘Nonuse Rights’ Warrant Caution”
- The Smokey Wire
- BioCrick News Center
Individualistic Culture Increases Economic Mobility in the United States
Bryan Leonard, Steven M. Smith
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(37), 2021
Ownership Fragmentation and Natural Resource Use: Evidence from the Bakken
Bryan Leonard, Dominic Parker
Economic Journal, 2021
Media Coverage (1)
Property Right Acquisition and Path Dependence: Nineteenth-Century Land Policy and Modern Economic Outcomes
Douglas W. Allen, Bryan Leonard
Economic Journal, 131(640), 2021
Stranded Land Constrains Public Land Management and Contributes to Larger Fires
Bryan Leonard, Andrew Plantinga, Matt Wibbenmeyer
Environmental Research Letters, 2021
Media Coverage (4)
Secured Transactions Laws and Economic Development on American Indian Reservations
D. Feir, Christian Dippel, Bryan Leonard, Marc Roark
AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2021
Harnessing Visitors’ Enthusiasm for National Parks to Fund Cooperative Large Landscape Conservation
Arthur D. Middleton, Temple Stoellinger, Harshad Karandikar, Bryan Leonard, Holly Doremus, Claire Kremen
Conservation Science & Practice, 2021
Media Coverage (10)
- Yahoo News: “Private Land Is Being Developed in the West. National Park Tourists Would Pay to Help Stop It”
- Outdoor Life: “National Parks Visitors Are Willing to Pay Extra Fees”
- National Parks Traveler: “Park Visitors Are Willing To Pay More To Support Wildlife”
- Wyoming Public Media: “Researchers Say National Park Visitors Should Help Pay For Conservation”
- WyoFile: “Most Yellowstone, Grand Teton Visitors Support Added Fee for Wildlife Conservation”
- USGS: “Wild About Wildlife: Leveraging Park Visitor Support to Fund Conservation”
- UW News: “UW Research Explores Funding Mechanism for Large-Landscape Conservation”
- Buckrail (Jackson Hole)
- My Big Horn Basin: “New Study Suggests Yellowstone Tourists Pay ‘Conservation Cash’”
- PERC
Canals, Climate, and Corruption: The Provisioning of Public Infrastructure under Uncertainty
Sechindra Vallury, Bryan Leonard
Economics and Politics, 2021
Not-So-Natural Experiments in History
Christian Dippel, Bryan Leonard
Journal of Historical Political Economy, 2021
Land Quality, Land Rights, and Indigenous Poverty
Bryan Leonard, Dominic Parker, Terry Anderson
Journal of Development Economics, 2020
Media Coverage (1)
The Economics of Indigenous Water Claim Settlements in the American West
Leslie Sanchez, Eric Edwards, Bryan Leonard
Environmental Research Letters, 2020
Media Coverage (8)
- Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: “Beyond ‘Paper’ Water: Complexities of Leveraging Tribal Water Rights”
- Reason: “One Small Step for Native American Water Rights”
- PERC: “How Federal Laws Undermine Native American Water Rights”
- PERC: “Empowering Tribes Can Help Address the Drought Plaguing the West”
- PERC: “Addressing Institutional Barriers to Native American Water Marketing”
- The ALI Adviser: “One Small Step for Native American Water Rights”
- Native Waters on Arid Lands: “Researcher Develops Database of Tribal Water Settlements”
- NC State CENREP: “Challenges of Adjudicating Native American Water Rights”
Rationing by Racing and the Oklahoma Land Rushes
Douglas W. Allen, Bryan Leonard
Journal of Institutional Economics, 2020
Virtual Parceling
Karen Bradshaw, Bryan Leonard
International Journal of the Commons, 2020
Agricultural Water Governance in the Desert: Shifting Risks in Central Arizona
Abigail Hallie York, Julia Eakin, Julia Bausch, Skaidra Smith-Heisters, Marty Anderies, Rimjhim Aggarwal, Bryan Leonard, Katherine Wright
Water Alternatives, 2020
Collective Action by Contract: Prior Appropriation and the Development of Irrigation in the Western United States
Bryan Leonard, Gary D. Libecap
Journal of Law and Economics, 2019 | NBER WP #22185
Expanding Water Markets in the Western United States: Barriers and Lessons from Other Natural Resource Markets
Bryan Leonard, Christopher Costello, Gary D. Libecap
Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 13(1): 43, 2019
How Many Rushed During the Oklahoma Land Openings?
Douglas W. Allen, Bryan Leonard
Cliometrica, 2019
Legal and Institutional Barriers to Establishing Non-Use Rights to Natural Resources
Bryan Leonard, Shawn Regan
Natural Resources Journal, 59(1), 2019
Endogenous First-Possession Property Rights in Open Access Resources
Bryan Leonard, Gary D. Libecap
Iowa Law Review, 100(6), 2015