PUBLICATIONS (‡ indicates supervised student or postdoctoral fellow)
Journal Articles
‡Adjei, E., ‡Ahmed, F., Zapata, O., & Poelzer, G. (2026). Beyond the mean: quantile-based insights into climate impacts on Arctic winter roads. Climatic Change, 179(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-04066-4
‡Yupanqui, D., Zapata, O., Natcher, D., Belcher, K., & Kulshreshtha, S. (2025). Economic spillovers of wildfire recovery efforts in remote Indigenous communities in Canada: The case of Little Red River Cree Nation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 105930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105930
‡Chow, A. O., Dolter, B., Hurlbert, M., & Zapata, O. (2025). “Electric vehicles do not work in the winter”: Exploring the role of misperceptions and socio-psychological factors in zero-emission vehicle adoption. Energy Research & Social Science, 130, 104450.
‡Jha, S., Pattnaik, F., Zapata, O., Acharya, B., & Dalai, A. K. (2025). Steam activation of camelina meal biochar to remediate PFOA-contaminated wastewater. Biomass and Bioenergy, 202, 108237.
‡Chow, A., Hurlbert, M., Dolter, B., & O. Zapata. (2025). Baby Steps or A Leap of Faith: Multiple Stakeholders’ Perspectives of Zero-emission Vehicle Adoption in Saskatchewan, Canada. Case Studies on Transport Policy, 21, September 2025, 101504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2025.101504
‡Galindo de Lima, V. R. M., Duarte, G. B., & Zapata, O. (2025) Short-term economic effects of the São Francisco Inter-Basin Water Transfer on the low-income population in Brazil. Regional Science Policy & Practice, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rspp.2025.100184
‡Jha, S., Pattnaik, F., Zapata, O., Acharya, B., & Dalai, A. K. (2025). KOH-Assisted Chemical Activation of Camelina Meal (Wild Flax) to Treat PFOA-Contaminated Wastewater. Sustainability, 17(5), 2170. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052170
‡Ahmed, F., Ahmed, R., Poelzer, G., Poelzer, G., Söderberg, C., Zapata, O., Guilmette, E. (2025) Exploring energy transition narratives through mayoral insights using artificial intelligence. Energy Research and Social Science, 120 103902, ISSN 2214-6296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103902.
‡Jha, S., Nanda, S., Zapata, O., Acharya, B., & Dalai, A. K. (2024). A Review of Systems Thinking Perspectives on Sustainability in Bioresource Waste Management and Circular Economy. Sustainability, 16(23), 10157. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310157
Zapata, O. (2024) Unequally Happy: Happiness Inequality Across Satisfaction Domains in a Developing-Country Context. Applied Research Quality Life 19, 3129–3151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-024-10368-z
‡Jha, S., Pattnaik, F., Nanda, S., Zapata, O., Acharya, B., & Dalai, A. K. (2024). Investigations of thermal effects during pyrolysis of agro-forestry biomass and physicochemical characterizations of biofuel products. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, 1, 103379, ISSN 1878-8181, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2024.103379.
‡Ahmed, F., Zapata, O., & Poelzer, G. (2024) Sustainability in the arctic: a bibliometric analysis. Discovery Sustainability. 5, 121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00312-4
Zapata, O. (2024) Renewable energy and well-being in remote Indigenous communities of Canada: A panel analysis. Ecological Economics, 222, 108219, ISSN 0921-8009, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108219.
Zapata, O. (2023) Weather disasters, material losses and income inequality: evidence from a tropical, middle-income country. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41885-023-00129-x
Honey-Rosés, J. and Zapata, O. (2023). Green Spaces with Fewer People Improve Self-Reported Affective Experience and Mood. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2): 1219. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021219
Zapata, O. and Honey-Rosés, J. (2022) The behavioural response to increased pedestrian and staying activity in the public space: a field experiment. Environment & Behavior, 54(1):36-57. https://doi:10.1177/0013916520953147
Zapata, O. (2022) Happiness in the tropics: The effect of climate on subjective well-being. Environment and Development Economics, 1-22. https://doi:10.1017/S1355770X21000267
Zapata, O. (2021) The link between climate change and plastic pollution: climate conditions and consumption of bottled water. Ecological Economics, 187: 107090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107090
Honey-Rosés, J., & Zapata, O. (2020) The Impact of Residential Densification on Perceptions of Public Space: A Field Experiment. Journal of the American Planning Association. 87(2): 282-295. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1846597
Honey-Rosés, J., Anguelovski, I., Bohigas, J., Chireh, V. K., Daher, C., Konijnendijk, C., Litt, J., Mawani, V., McCall, M., Orellana, A., Oscilowicz, E., Sánchez, U., Senbel, M., Tan, X., Villagomez, E., Zapata, O., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. (2020) The impact of COVID-19 on public space: an early review of the emerging questions – design, perceptions and inequities. Cities & Health, https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2020.1780074
Honey-Rosés, J., Canessa, M., Daitch, S., Gomes, B., Muñoz-Blanco, J., Xavier, A. and Zapata, O. (2020) Comparing structured and unstructured facilitation approaches in consultation workshops: a field experiment. Group Decision and Negotiation, 29, 949–967. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10726-020-09688-w
Zapata, O. (2018) Turning to God in tough times? Human versus material losses from climate disasters in Canada. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, 2(3): 259-281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41885-018-0029-2
Zapata, O. (2018) Industrial wastewater treatment and reuse in a developing country context: Evidence at the firm level from Ecuador. Water Economics and Policy, 4(2): 1750005. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S2382624X17500059
Zapata, O. (2015) More water please, it's getting hot! The effect of climate on residential water demand. Water Economics and Policy, 1(3): 1550007. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2382624X15500071
Godoy, R., Reyes-García, V., Huanca, T., Leonard, W.R., Olvera, R.G., Bauchet, J., Ma, Z., St John, J., Miodowskim M., Zapata, O., Vadez, V., Seyfreid, C. (2007) The role of community and individuals in the formation of social capital. Human Ecology, 35(6):709-721
Submitted to Journals
‡Moreno de Quevedo, V., & Zapata, O. (2026) Social acceptability of renewable energy: community members’ preferences for attributes of energy projects in El Zangarro community, Mexico. Energy for Sustainable Development (under review).
Zapata, O. (2026a) Institutional Economics Meets Community Wealth Building: Sustainable Transitions at the Firm-Level in Ecuador. Energy Policy (under review).
‡Adjei, E., Zapata, O., Holdmann, G., & Poelzer, G. (2026b). Efficiency Gains and Consumer Savings from Resource Pooling in Remote Electricity Systems. Utilities Policy (under review).
‡Adjei, E., Zapata, O., Asante, S., & Poelzer, G. (2025). Evaluating the Technical Efficiency of Off–Grid Utility Firms in Rural Alaska. Electricity Journal (under review).
‡Yupanqui, D., Zapata, O., Belcher, K., Poelzer, G., & Mansuy, N. (2025). Estimating Local Economic Impacts on Remote Indigenous Communities with Adapted Input-Output Models. Journal of Rural Studies (under review).
‡Yupanqui, D., Zapata, O., Belcher, K., & Poelzer, G. (2025) Who benefits from microreactors? Institutional structure, ownerships and economic impacts in nuclear energy transitions in remote Indigenous communities. Progress in Nuclear Energy (under review).
Espino, I., and Zapata, O. (2025). How Parents' Work Schedules and Children's Time Allocation Interact: Evidence from Guatemala. Journal of Family Studies (under review)
Zapata, O., ‡Ahmed, F., ‡Adjei, E. & Poelzer, G. (2025). The economy on thin ice: ice road impact on income and unemployment in the Arctic. Arctic (under review).
Chow, A., Hurlbert, M., Dolter, B., & Zapata, O. (2025). Policy pathways for zero-emission passenger vehicles in Saskatchewan, Canada. Int. J. of Environmental Policy and Decision Making (under review).
Book Chapters
‡Alava, D., Zapata, O., & Poelzer, G. (2026) Energy as Relationship: A Relational Framework Grounded in Indigenous Worldviews for Arctic and Global Energy Security, Chapter 20. In: “Noble, B., Poelzer, G., Biswas, S., and Holdmann, G. (Eds) (2026). Routledge Handbook of arctic energy transition”. Routledge Publishing (accepted).
Zapata, O. (2026). Understanding the transaction costs of community energy development in the Arctic, Chapter 22. In: “Noble, B., Poelzer, G., Biswas, S., and Holdmann, G. (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Arctic Energy Transition. Routledge Publishing (accepted).
Zapata, O. (2026). Panel data. In: “Solomon, B., & Haddad, B. (2026). Dictionary of Ecological Economics, 2nd edition. Edward Elgar” (accepted).
Honey-Rosés, J., Anguelovski, I., Chireh, V. K., Daher, C., Konijnendijk, C., Litt, J., Mawani, V., McCall, M. K., Orellana, A., Oscilowicz, E., Sánchez, U., Senbel, M., Tan, X., Villagomez, E., Zapata, O., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. (2020) Los impactos de COVID-19 en el espacio público: una revisión de las preguntas emergentes. In: Delgado Ramos, G.C., and López-García, D. Las Ciudades ante el COVID-19: Nuevas direcciones para la investigación urbana y las políticas públicas. Plataforma de Conocimiento para la Transformación Urbana. Ciudad de México. ISBN:978-1-64945-190-3. pp 304-327. https://zenodo.org/record/3894075#.X2uVFWhKhPY (In Spanish).
Oxoby, R. and Zapata, O. (2015) Coase Theorem, Property Rights and Endowment Effect. In: Real World Decision Making: An Encyclopedia of Behavioral Economics. M Altman, editor. Santa Barbara:Praeger.
Oxoby, R. and Zapata, O. (2015) Elinor Ostrom. In: Real World Decision Making: An Encyclopedia of Behavioral Economics. M Altman, editor. Santa Barbara:Praeger
Martinez, R., Arancibia, D., Frigmann-Young, C. E. and Zapata, O. (2010) Forestry (Chapter 8). In: Bovarnick, A., Alpizar, F. and Schnell, C. (eds). 2010. Importance of Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Economic Growth and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Economic Valuation of Ecosystems. United National Development Programme. (Spanish & English).
Aylward, B., Hartwell, R. and Zapata, O. (2010) Sustainable Ecosystem Management of Water: The Benefits of Hydrological Services (Chapter 11). In: Bovarnick, A., Alpizar, F. and Schnell, C. (eds). 2010. Importance of Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Economic Growth and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Economic Valuation of Ecosystems. United National Development Programme. (Spanish & English).
Bustamante, T. and Zapata, O. (2007) Characteristics of oil contracts in Ecuador. In: Bustamante, T. Behind the smoke screen. Social dynamics and oil in Ecuador. Cuadernos de Trabajo, Flacso-Ecuador. Quito. (In Spanish)
Reports
Zapata, O. (2011) Understanding consumption and residential uses of water at the household level in Quito, Ecuador. Working Paper Series WP 21. Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Economics Program, LACEEP. Costa Rica.
Aylward, B., Hartwell, R. and Zapata, O. (2010) Sustainable ecosystem management and water: the benefits of hydrological services.
Zapata, O. (2010) Country-case report for Ecuador: The Importance of Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Economic Growth and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Economic Valuation of Ecosystems. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Panama
Zapata, O., Vadez, V., Godoy, R., Reyes-García, V., Huanca, T., Leonard, W. R. (2005) Income inequality and deforestation: Evidence from a small-scale, pre-industrial society in the Bolivian Amazon. TAPS – Working Paper. Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Waltham, MA, USA.