Sergey Rabotyagov is an environmental economist who looks for ways to encourage the public to use natural resources more sustainably, whether through economic incentives, offset markets, or other means. He does this through a mix of modeling and field research. He studies how best to design pollution permit markets, and also searches for innovative solutions to non-point water pollution sources. In addition, he analyzes how decisions made in one place can have far-reaching ramifications—how, in work sponsored by the National Science Foundation, land-use practices in Tennessee can influence the size of the seasonal dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.