Tom Lyon

Thomas P. Lyon holds the Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce, with appointments in both the Ross School of Business and the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEAS).  Professor Lyon is a leader in using economic analysis to understand corporate environmental strategy and how it is shaped by emerging government regulations, non-governmental organizations, and consumer demands.  His book Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy, published by Cambridge University Press, is the first rigorous economic analysis of this increasingly important topic.   Professor Lyon earned his bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and his doctorate at Stanford University.  His current research focuses on corporate environmental information disclosure, greenwash, the causes and consequences of renewable energy policy, and voluntary programs for environmental improvement. 

Professor Lyon has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, the University of Paris, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Chicago and at the University of Bonn, and a Fulbright Scholar at the Scuola Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy.  He spent the academic year 2002/2003 as a Gilbert White Fellow at Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, and 2003/2004 as a visiting economist in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.  Professor Lyon serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy and the Journal of Regulatory Economics.  His teaching experience includes energy economics and policy, environmental governance, non-market strategy, regulation, managerial economics, business and government, game theory, business strategy, and the management of innovation.

Please view the video on Professor Lyon's award winning paper, "CSR Needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability and Politics."