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| Left to right: Herbert Dorau, Herbert Simpson, Dr. Richard T. Ely, George Wehrwein, William Ten Haken, Mary L. Shine Peterson, David Rozman, and Edward W. Morehouse. ca. 1925 |
For a century, Land Economics has been at the forefront of academic inquiry related to the economics of natural and environmental resources. As we mark the 100th anniversary of the journal, we honor the scholars and editors who have shaped this legacy of scholarship and impact on public policy.
From 1925 to the Present
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| Vol. 15(4) Cover - 1939 |
Land Economics was established in 1925 by Richard T. Ely, professor at UW–Madison and a founder of the American Economics Association. It was originally titled the Journal of Land & Public Utility Economics and focused on the economic analysis of pressing issues of the time, including land use, public utilities, and housing, reflecting the challenges of urbanization and infrastructure development in the early 20th century.
In 1948, the journal adopted its current name to reflect a broader scope that encompassed a wider array of topics pertinent to both developed and developing regions. This change mirrored the expanding horizons of economic research, delving into areas like environmental quality, natural resource management, housing, urban and rural land use, and transportation.
In the 1970s, the environmental movement in the United States led to the rise of environmental economics as a distinct field in economics. Land Economics evolved to become one of a small number of outlets featuring scholarly communication in this emerging field while continuing its emphasis on empirical research and policy relevance.
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| Vol. 101(1) Cover - 2025 |
Today environmental and resource economics is a thoroughly mainstream field in economics with many outlets publishing research in the area. Land Economics continues to play an important role by publishing empirical research on environmental and resource themes generally and as they overlap with topics in agricultural, developmentment, and urban economics.
Centennial Collections
As part of our centennial reflections, we have selected content that illustrates how Land Economics has engaged with key questions in the field. Here you’ll find all of our open access articles as well as special issues that have focused on particular topics or themes. Enjoy!
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Editorial Stewardship
Shaping Policy and Advancing Research
Reflections and Future Directions
As Land Economics marks its centennial, we look both backward and forward.
An open access article in our final 2025 issue revisits the rise of neoclassical economics, highlighting early, often-overlooked approaches that foregrounded land and natural resources, and these ideas continue to resonate today.
Looking ahead, an open access bibliometric study offers a quantitative perspective on the journal’s influence over the past century. A similar study was published in 2005,and we invite you to compare those trends with the latest findings.
Land Economics welcomes submissions that offer fresh thinking and different perspectives.
Preprints of accepted papers are always open access, encouraging timely discussion around ongoing work.