Laura A. Bakkensen, Ph.D.

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s School of Government and Public Policy and Director of our Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy programs. I utilize applied microeconomic and econometric techniques to study the economics of natural disasters, identifying current and future risks and evidence of adaptation to damages and fatalities across the globe. My research informs policy on insurance regulation, post-disaster aid, warnings and risk information, and public adaptation projects. I received my Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from Yale University, my M.Sc. in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics, and my B.A. in Economics from Whitman College. In 2017, I was awarded a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship. I was previously a visiting researcher at the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change in Venice, Italy and received a Fulbright Teaching Grant to South Korea.