Benjamin A. Jones, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Economics
University of New Mexico
Office: ECON 1022
​Phone: (505) 277-5304
Email: bajones@unm.edu

---

I'm an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of New Mexico and an Affiliated Research Faculty of the National Institute for Risk and Resilience at the University of Oklahoma.

Prior to coming to UNM, I completed a one-year postdoc at the University of Oklahoma where I studied the externalities of hydropower production on the Colorado River.

I specialize in environmental and natural resource economics with a particular emphasis on the epidemiological/health dimensions of environmental economics. ​My research focuses on the connections between nature, human health, and well-being through changes in environmental quality and the provision of ecosystem services. I'm interested in capturing, measuring, and otherwise understanding how shocks to the natural environment impact health and welfare. I see this work as contributing to the broader literature on environmental and ecosystem determinants of health and social welfare in coupled human and natural systems. 

​Some specific topics that I study include: indirect health effects of invasive species, urban afforestation/deforestation and health, wildfire smoke health effects and costs, occupational hazard costs of uranium mining, hydropower externalities, LED light at night externalities, water quality and health, and tradeoffs between water use in arid climates and health.   

Two methods I primarily use in my work are: (i) modern causal inference econometric techniques, and; (ii) theoretical dynamic optimization models and numerical simulations. For (i), I exploit instances of natural or quasi-experiments using modern applied econometrics to credibly investigate relationships between nature, human health, and well-being. For (ii), I construct and numerically simulate bioeconomic-health models of coupled human and natural systems to dynamically study optimal environmental and natural resource management in the presence of human health externalities.  Hence, I employ both dynamic economic models and applied microeconometrics in my research.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS [full list available here]:

• Jones, B.A. and S. McDermott. (2018). "The Economics of Urban Afforestation: Insights from an Integrated Bioeconomic-Health Model."  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 89: 116-135.

• Jones, B.A. (2018). "Spillover Health Effects of Energy Efficiency Investments: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Los Angeles LED Streetlight Program."  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 88: 283-299.

• Jones, B.A., R. Berrens, H. Jenkins-Smith, C. Silva, J. Ripberger, D. Carlson, K. Gupta, and W. Wehde.  (2018). "In Search of an Inclusive Approach: Measuring Non-market Values for the Effects of Complex Dam, Hydroelectric and River System Operations." Energy Economics 69: 225-236.

• ​ Jones, B.A. (2017). "Are We Underestimating the Economic Costs of Wildfire Smoke? An Investigation Using the Life Satisfaction Approach." Journal of Forest Economics 27: 80-90.   
• Jones, B.A. and S. McDermott. (2018). "Health Impacts of Invasive Species Through an Altered Natural Environment: Assessing Air Pollution Sinks as a Causal Pathway." Environmental and Resource Economics 71(1): 23-43.
• Jones, B.A. (2017). "Invasive Species Impacts on Human Well-Being Using the Life Satisfaction Index." Ecological Economics 134: 250-257.
• Jones, B.A. (2017). "The Social Health Costs of Uranium Mining in the US Colorado Plateau Cohort, 1960-2005."International Journal of Public Health 62(4): 471-478.

My Major Areas of Research Interest:

Water Resources and Management

Trees and Human Health

Invasive Species Management and Economic Impacts

Energy Efficiency Externalities

Economic Impacts of Wildfire Smoke

Water Quality, Availability, and Health