Jim Tober — Economics and Environmental Science
Jim Tober’s comprehensive outlook on economics began when, as an undergraduate at Berkeley, he became
fascinated with how societies organize their members for productive activity. Now, as a senior faculty
member at Marlboro, Jim organizes his teaching around two broad inquiries: the first concerns the analysis
and comparison of economic systems, their histories and development; the second addresses public policy
and collective decision-making, especially as related to the natural environment. To help Marlboro students
probe these issues, he offers the basics of micro- and macro-economic theory, as well as courses and
tutorials such as "Philanthropy, Advocacy and Public Policy," "Topics in U.S. Environmental History,"
"Environmental Economics and Policy," and "Decision-Making: Individual, Interactive and Collective."
Jim’s long-term research on wildlife policy has led him to author two books: Who Owns the Wildlife? The
Political Economy of Conservation in Nineteenth Century America (1981) and Wildlife and the Public
Interest: Nonprofit Organizations and Federal Wildlife Policy (1989). His current research interests
range from the protection of global biodiversity, to economic development in South Asia, to planning
strategies among nonprofit human service agencies in rural Vermont.
B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1968; Ph.D., Yale University, 1973; Marlboro College, 1973 –