Ron Cummings is perhaps best known to an entire "academic generation" of environmental economists as the editor who whipped JEEM into shape...as he exercised sheer force-of-will against the natural tendencies of academics to let journal reviewing schedules slide indefinitely. Ron defined "turnaround time" as 8 weeks, no matter what--to the aggravation of many individual academics (who may have chosen their profession in part because no deadline is actually real). To the great benefit of us all, however, he succeeded in heightening the attractiveness and timeliness of JEEM as the primary outlet for environmental research. This legacy is a public good we all appreciate very deeply. Subsequent editors have tried hard to maintain Ron's standards, but Ron has been indeed unique in, shall we say...his management style and temperament.

Today's program mentions Ron's 1970 AER paper on "Natural Resource Industries" with Oscar Burt, the Cummings, Brookshire and Schulze CVM volume that was one of the earliest comprehensive authorities for what we now know as "stated preference" methods, as well as the 1995 AER paper with Harrison and Rutstrom on "incentive-compatibility." However, some other noteworthy contributions should certainly be mentioned. These include the 1999 AER "cheap talk" paper with Taylor, the 1997 JPE "incentive compatibility" paper with Elliott and Harrison, and the 1994 Land Economics paper on "Hypothetical Surveys and Real Economic Commitments" (with Neill, Ganderton, Harrison and McGuckin)

For his numerous scholarly contributions in nonmarket valuation and experimental economics, for his advisory work (much of it related to water policy) and especially for his decade of tireless effort devoted to enhancing the reputation and impact of JEEM, we induct Ron Cummings as a 2006 Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Congratulations, Ron!

I understand Laura Taylor is prepared to say a few words on Ron's behalf.