​Benjamin A. Jones, Ph.D.
Regents' Lecturer​ & Associate Professor
Graduate Director
​Department of Economics
​The University of New Mexico
[email protected]
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​Department page: https://tinyurl.com/bajecon​
I'm a Regents' Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Graduate Director of Economics at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and I have faculty affiliations at the University of Oklahoma (National Institute for Risk and Resilience), the UNM Water Resources Program, and the UNM Sustainability Studies Program. ​

I currently serve on the Editorial Council for the
Journal of Environmental Economics & Management. I'm also the lead author of the book "Energy Use in Bitcoin Mining: The Environmental Impact of Cryptocurrencies" from Routledge Press.

I specialize in environmental and natural resource economics with a particular emphasis on the epidemiological and health dimensions of environmental economics. ​

My research focuses on the economic connections between nature, human health, and well-being. I'm interested in understanding how changes in pollution exposures caused by shocks to ecosystem services impact human health and welfare and how such information can inform resource management and policy. I see this work as contributing to the broader interdisciplinary literature on environmental and ecosystem determinants of health and social welfare in coupled human and natural systems. ​
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​My work has been discussed by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press (AP), CBS News, The Guardian, and Popular Science magazine.  

​SELECTED PUBLICATIONS [full list available here]:
  • Jones, B.A., A. Goodkind, and R. Berrens. (2022). “Economic Estimation of Bitcoin Mining’s Climate Damages Demonstrates Closer Resemblance to Digital Crude than Digital Gold” Scientific Reports 12:14512.
  • Jones, B.A., S. McDermott, P. Champ, and R. Berrens. (2022). “More Smoke Today for Less Smoke Tomorrow? We Need to Better Understand the Public Health Benefits and Costs of Prescribed Fire.” International Journal of Wildland Fire 31(10): 918-926.
  • Jones, B.A. (2020). "After the Dust Settles: The Infant Health Impacts of Dust Storms." Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 7(6): 1005-1032.
  • 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. (2017). "Invasive Species Impacts on Human Well-Being Using the Life Satisfaction Index." Ecological Economics 134: 250-257.
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BBC World News interview on the environmental impacts of Bitcoin mining ​(May 13, 2021)