Associate Professor, Public Policy
https://www.yusuke-kuwayama.com/
Education
Ph.D., Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.S., Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
A.B., Economics, Amherst College
Current appointments
Member, Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
At-Large Appointee, Chesapeake Bay Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC)
Fellow, Resources for the Future (RFF)
Member, Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center Research Network
Research and teaching interests
Environmental economics
Water resources and ecosystems
Integrated socio-environmental systems
Socioeconomic value of Earth science information
Biography
Dr. Yusuke Kuwayama is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is also a Fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) in Washington, DC, a member of the Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) at the National Academies, and an at-large appointee to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).
Dr. Kuwayama’s research focuses on the economics of water resources and ecosystem management, in particular:
- Federal and state regulation of ambient water pollution
- Sustainable water use in agriculture
- Water management to protect aquatic species habitats
The methods and techniques Dr. Kuwayama uses to address these issues consist of applied microeconomic theory, dynamic optimization, applied econometrics, and policy analysis.
Dr. Kuwayama is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to address questions involving sustainable use and management of coupled human-natural systems, especially work that requires modeling human decision-making, hydrologic and ecological processes, and the connections between them.
Courses taught
PUBL 604: Statistical Analysis
PUBL 608: Applied Multivariate Regression
PUBL 610-04: Cost-Benefit Analysis for Heath, Education, and Environmental Policy
ECON 405/605: Benefit-Cost Evaluation
Selected publications
Sayyed, T. K., U. Ovienmhada, M. Kashani, K. Vohra, G. Kerr, C. O’Donnell, M. Harris, L. Gladson, A. Titus, S. Adamo, K. Fong, E. Gargulinski, A. Soja, S. Anenberg, and Y. Kuwayama. Satellite data for environmental justice: A scoping review of the literature in the United States. 2024. Environmental Research Letters, 19(3), 033001.
Earnhart, D., S. Jacobson, Y. Kuwayama, and R. Woodward. 2023. Discretionary exemptions from environmental regulation: Flexibility for good or for ill. Land Economics, 99(2), 203-221.
Kuwayama, Y., S. Olmstead, and J. Zheng. 2022. A more comprehensive estimate of the value of water quality. Journal of Public Economics, 207, 104600.
Kroetz, K., Y. Kuwayama, and C. Vexler. 2020. The economics of the joint management of water resources and aquatic species in the United States. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 14(2), 194–215.
Stroming, S., M. Robertson, B. Mabee, Y. Kuwayama, and B. Schaeffer. Quantifying the human health benefits of using satellite information to detect cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms and manage recreational advisories in U.S. lakes. 2020. GeoHealth, 4(9), e2020GH000254.
Fitzgerald, T., Y. Kuwayama, S. Olmstead, and A. Thompson. 2020. Dynamic impacts of U.S. energy development on agricultural land use. Energy Policy, 137, 11163.
Kuwayama, Y., S. Olmstead, D. Wietelman, and J. Zheng. 2020. Trends in nutrient pollution as a source of potential water quality damages: A case study of Texas, USA. Science of the Total Environment, 724, 137962.
Walls, M., and Y. Kuwayama. 2019. Evaluating payments for forest watershed services programs in the United States. Water Economics and Policy, 5(4), 1950003.
Kuwayama, Y., A. Thompson, R. Bernknopf, B. Zaitchik, and P. Vail. 2019. Estimating the impact of drought on agriculture using the US Drought Monitor. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 101(1): 193-210.
Metson, G., S. M. Powers, R. L. Hale, J. Sayles, G. Öberg, G. K. MacDonald, Y. Kuwayama, N. Springer, A. Weatherley, K. L. Hondula, K. Jones, R. B. Chowdhury, A. H. W. Beusen, and A. F. Bouwman. 2018. Socio-environmental consideration of phosphorus flows in the urban sanitation chain of contrasting cities. Regional Environmental Change, 18(5): 1387-1401.
Epanchin-Niell, R., Y. Kuwayama, and M. Walls. 2017. Spatial-dynamic complexities of the climate challenge for rural areas: Integrating resource and regional economic insights. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 99(2): 447–463.
Bernknopf, R., D. Brookshire, Y. Kuwayama, M. Macauley, M. Rodell, A. Thompson, P. Vail, and B. Zaitchik. 2017. The value of remotely sensed information: The case of GRACE-enhanced drought severity index. Weather, Climate, and Society, 10(1): 187-203.
Kuwayama, Y., and N. Brozović. 2017. Optimal management of environmental externalities with time lags and uncertainty. Environmental and Resource Economics, 68(3): 473-499.
Kuwayama, Y., and H. Kamen. 2016. What drives the reuse of municipal wastewater? A county-level analysis of Florida. Land Economics, 92(4): 679–702.
Kuwayama, Y., and N. Brozović. 2013. The regulation of a spatially heterogeneous externality: Tradable groundwater permits to protect streams. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 66(2): 364–382.