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Kerry Smith

Kerry Smith

Emeritus Regents Professor and Emeritus University Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, W. P. Carey School of Business

kerry.smith@asu.edu

480-727-9812

Department of Economics
Arizona State University
PO Box 873806
Tempe, AZ 85287-3806

Titles

  • Distinguished Sustainability Fellow, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory
  • Emeritus Regents Professor and Emeritus University Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, W. P. Carey School of Business

Biography

Kerry Smith is emeritus professor of environmental economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU. He directs the Center for Environmental Economics and Sustainability Policy in the L. William Seidman Research Institute, which serves as a link between the local, national and international business communities and the W.P. Carey School of Business. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a university fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C.. He is also a fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and of the American Agricultural Economics Association. Smith came to ASU from North Carolina State, where he was a University Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Center for Environmental and Resource Economic Policy.

Education

  • PhD, Economics, Rutgers University, 1970
  • AB, Economics, Rutgers University, 1966

Expertise

Journal Articles

2020

Smith, V. K., K. L. Larson and A. M. York. 2020. Using quality signaling to enhance survey response rates. Applied Economic Letters 27(11):951-954 . DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1646869. (link )

Smith, V. K. and M. Zhao. 2020. Economy-wide modeling, environmental macroeconomics, and benefit-cost analysis. Land Economics 96(3):305-332. DOI: 10.3368/le.96.3.305. (link )

2017

Fishman, J. and V. K. Smith. 2017. Latent tastes, incomplete stratification, and the plausibility of vertical sorting models. Environmental and Resource Economics 66(2):339–361. DOI: 10.1007/s10640-015-9952-7. (link )

Klaiber, H. A., J. K. Abbott and V. K. Smith. 2017. Some like it (less) hot: Extracting tradeoff measures for physically coupled amenities. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economics 4(4): 1053-1079. DOI: 10.1086/692842. (link )

Smith, V. K., S. L. Harlan, M. McLean, J. Fishman, C. Valcarcel and M. L. Nation. 2017. Does reputation enhance response rates?. Applied Economic Letters 24(17):1228-1231. (link )

2016

Smith, V. K., S. L. Harlan, M. McLaen, J. Fishman, C. Valcarcel and M. L. Nation. 2016. Using household surveys to implement field experiments: The willingness to donate to food banks. Applied Economic Letters 23(13):969-972. DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2015.1125423. (link )

2015

Abbott, J. K., H. A. Klaiber and V. K. Smith. 2015. Economic behavior, market signals, and urban ecology. NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper 20959. (link )

Klaiber, H. A., J. K. Abbott and V. K. Smith. 2015. Some like it (less) hot: Extracting tradeoff measures for physically coupled amenities. NBER Working Paper Series Working Paper 21051. (link )

Smith, V. K. 2015. Should benefit-cost methods take account of high unemployment? Symposium introduction. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 9(2):165-178. DOI: 10.1093/reep/rev007. (link )

2014

Klaiber, H. A., V. K. Smith, M. Kaminsky and A. Strong. 2014. Measuring price elasticities for residential water demand with limited information. Land Economics 90(1):100-113. (link )

2013

Carbone, J. C. and V. K. Smith. 2013. Valuing nature in a general equilibrium. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 66(1):72-89. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2012.12.007. (link )

Klaiber, H. A. and V. K. Smith. 2013. Quasi experiments, hedonic models, and estimating tradeoffs for local amenities. Land Economics 89(3):413-431. (link )

Kuminoff, N. V., V. K. Smith and C. Timmins. 2013. The new economics of equilibrium sorting and policy evaluation using housing markets. Journal of Economics Literature 51(4):1007-1062. DOI: 10.1257/jel.51.4.1007. (link )

2012

Klaiber, H. A. and V. K. Smith. 2012. Developing general equilibrium benefit analyses for social programs: An introduction and example. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 3(2):5. DOI: 10.1515/2152-2812.1083. (link )

Smith, V. K. 2012. Reflections — In search of crosswalks between macroeconomics and environmental economics. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 6(2):298-317. (link )

Smith, V. K. 2012. Securitizing environmental risk and the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Economists' Voice 9(1):. DOI: 10.1515/1553-3832.1890. (link )

Smith, V. K. and C. V. Wolloh. 2012. Has surface water quality improved since the Clean Water Act?. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 18192 (link )

2011

Evans, M. F., C. Poulos and V. K. Smith. 2011. Who counts in evaluating the effects of air pollution policies on households? Non-market valuation in the presence of dependencies. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 62(1):65-79. DOI: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1016/j.jeem.2010.11.005. (link )

Kinzig, A. P., C. K. Perrings, F. S. Chapin III, S. Polasky, V. K. Smith, D. Tilman and B. L. Turner II. 2011. Paying for ecosystem services—promise and peril. Science 334:603-604. DOI: 10.1126/science.1210297. (link )

2010

Carbone, J. C. and V. K. Smith. 2010. Valuing ecosystem services in general equilibrium. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 15844 (link )

Evans, M. F. and V. K. Smith. 2010. Measuring how risk tradeoffs adjust with income. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 40:33-55. (link )

Palmquist, R. B., D. J. Phaneuf and V. K. Smith. 2010. Short run constraints and the increasing marginal value of time in recreation. Environmental and Resource Economics 46(1):19-41. (link )

Smith, V. K. 2010. Pre-positioned policy as public adaptation to climate change. Resources for the Future Issue Brief 10-07:1-19. (link )

Smith, V. K. 2010. Reflections: Legacies, incentives, and advice. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 4(2):309-324. DOI: 10.1093/reep/req009. (link )

Smith, V. K., M. F. Evans, H. S. Banzhaf and C. Poulos. 2010. Can weak substitution be rehabilitated?. Environmental and Resource Economics 45(2):203-221. (link )

Smith, V. K. and E. Moore. 2010. Behavioral economics and benefit cost analysis. Environmental and Resource Economics 46:217-234. (link )

Strong, A. and V. K. Smith. 2010. Reconsidering the economics of demand analysis with kinked budget constraints. Land Economics 86(1):173-190. (link )

2009

Smith, V. K. 2009. Celebrating Solow: Lessons from natural resource economics for environmental policy. Journal of Natural Resource Policy Research 1(1):107-113.

2008

Carbone, J. C. and V. K. Smith. 2008. Evaluating policy interventions with general equilibrium externalities. Journal of Public Economics 92(5-6):1254-1274.

Evans, M. and V. K. Smith. 2008. Complementarity and the measurement of individual risk tradeoffs: Accounting for quantity and quality of life effects. Environmental and Resource Economics 41(3):381-400.

Huang, J., D. W. Nychka and V. K. Smith. 2008. Semi-parametric discrete choice measures of willingness to pay. Economics Letters 101(1):91-94.

Phaneuf, D., V. K. Smith, R. Palmquist and J. C. Pope. 2008. Integrating property value and local recreation models to value ecosystem services in urban watersheds. Land Economics 84(3):361-381.

Smith, V. K. 2008. Reflections on the literature. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 2(1):130-145. DOI: 10.1093/reep/rem029.

Smith, V. K. 2008. Reflections on the literature. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 2(2):292-308.

Smith, V. K. 2008. Risk perceptions, optimism, and natural hazards. Risk Analysis 28(6):1763-1767.

2007

Banzhaf, H. S. and V. K. Smith. 2007. Meta analysis in model implementation: Choice sets and the valuation of air quality improvements. Journal of Applied Econometrics 22(6):1013-1031.

Smith, V. K. 2007. Reflections on the literature. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 1(1):152-165.

Smith, V. K. 2007. Reflections on the literature. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 1(2):300-318.

Smith, V. K. and H. S. Banzhaf. 2007. Quality adjusted prices and the Willig Condition. Economics Letters 94(1):43-48.

2006

Carbone, J., D. Hallstrom and V. K. Smith. 2006. Can natural experiments measure behavioral responses to environmental risks?. Environmental and Resource Economics 33(3):273-297.

Evans, M. F. and V. K. Smith. 2006. Do we really understand the age-VSL relationship?. Resource and Energy Economics 28(3):242-261.

Smith, V. K., J. Carbone, J. C. Pope, D. Hallstrom and M. Darden. 2006. Adjusting to natural disasters. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 33(1):37-54.

Smith, V. K., S. K. Pattanayak and G. L. VanHoutven. 2006. Structural benefit transfer: An example using VSL estimates. Ecological Economics 60(2):361-371.

Book Chapters

2015

Smith, V. K. and M. Zhao. 2015. Residential water management: An economic perspective on policy instruments. Pp. 103-125 In: Dinar, A. and K. Schwabe eds., Handbook of Water Economics. Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: 10.4337/9781782549666.00013.

2012

Smith, V. K. 2012. Comments on "Regulatory choice with pollution and innovation". Pp. 74-78 In: Fullerton, D. and C. Wolfram eds., The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy. NBER, University of Chicago Press.

Smith, V. K. 2012. How can policy encourage economically sensible climate adaptation?. Pp. 229-242 In: Fullerton, D. and C. Wolfram eds., The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy. NBER, University of Chicago Press.

2011

Klaiber, H. A. and V. K. Smith. 2011. Preference heterogeneity and non-market benefits: The roles of structural hedonic and sorting models. Pp. 222-253 In: Bennett, J. ed., International Handbook on Non-Market Environmental Valuation. Edward Elgar. Cheltenham, UK.

2008

Smith, V. K. and J. C. Carbone. 2008. Environmental economics and the "curse" of the circular flow. In: Wu, J. J., P. Barkley and B. Weber eds., Frontiers of Rural and Resource Economics. Resources for the Future, Inc. Washington, DC.

2007

Pattanayak, S. K., V. K. Smith and G. L. VanHoutven. 2007. Improving the practice of benefits transfer: A preference calibration approach. In: Navrud, S. and R. Ready eds., Environmental Value Transfer: Issues and Method. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Smith, V. K. 2007. Judging quality. In: Kanninen, B. ed., Valuing Environmental Amenities Using Choice Experiments: A Common Sense Guide to Theory and Practice. Springer.

Smith, V. K. and J. C. Carbone. 2007. Should benefit cost analyses take account of general equilibrium effects?. In: Zerbe, R. ed., Journal of Research in Law and Economics: A Journal of Policy. Elsevier Science.

Posters

2014

Smith, B. and V. K. Smith. 2014. Anticipating neighborhood level changes in water demand. Poster presented at the 16th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposum and All Scientists Meeting, January 17, 2014, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ.

2013

Fishman, J. and V. K. Smith. 2013. Sorting, attitude and preference alignment for local public goods. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )

Presentations

2014

Smith, V. K. 2014. Can environmental bonds manage policy induced risks?. Presentation at the Yale Environmental Economics Seminar, November 12, 2014, The Yale Center for Business and the Environment, New Haven, CT.

Smith, V. K. 2014. Securitizing policy induced environmental risks. Presentation at the Economics and Environmental Policy Research Network Symposium 2014, October 15, 2014, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Presented October 15, 2014 at the Economics and Environmental Policy Research Network Symposium 2014, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

2012

Smith, V. K. 2012. Designing non-market valuation strategies for project evaluation: Lessons from literature and practice. Presented May 17, 2012 at the International Symposium on CVM Guidelines, Korean Development Institute, Seoul, South Korea.

Smith, V. K. 2012. Environmental feedbacks and benefit-cost analysis. Presented May 4, 2012 at the Arizona Energy and Environmental Policy Workshop, May 4-5, 2012, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

Smith, V. K. 2012. Non-market general equilibrium analysis and environmental policy evaluation. Presented March 26, 2012 at the Berkeley Bioeconomy Conference, Berkeley, CA, March 26-28, 2012.

Smith, V. K. 2012. Sustainable environmental economics: Recognizing the importance of feedbacks from environmental systems for economic markets. Presented May 18, 2012 at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.

Smith, V. K. 2012. The implications of recent behavioral economics advances for environmental policy. Panel member January 6, 2012 at Association of Environmental & Resource Economists/American Economic Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, January 5-8, 2012.

Smith, V. K. 2012. Valuing nature in a general equilibrium. Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, June 27-30, 2012, Prague, Czech Republic.

2011

Klaiber, H. A. and V. K. Smith. 2011. Recovering household valuation of urban heat island in the presence of omitted variables across spatial scales. Presented June 9, 2011 at the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Inaugural Summer Conference, Seattle WA.

Klaiber, H. A. and V. K. Smith. 2011. Spatial scale, sorting models, and the general equilibrium evaluation of environmental policies. Presented January 8, 2011 at the Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, Denver, CO.

Smith, V. K. 2011. Non-market valuation twenty years after the Exxon Valdez: The current state of the art for informing benefit cost analysis. Panel member January 7, 2011 at the Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, Denver, CO.

Smith, V. K. 2011. Using quasi-experiments and capitalization to evaluate localized changes in land uses. Presented May 27, 2011 as part of the Frontier in Applied Economics Series, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

Smith, V. K. 2011. Using quasi-experiments and capitalization to evaluate localized changes in land uses. Presented March 4, 2011 as a seminar to the Department of Economics, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Smith, V. K. 2011. Water demand: Past, present, and future. Keynote presentation on June 27, 2011 at the Linking Environmental and Agricultural Research Network (LEARN)/International Water and Resource Economics Consortium (IWREC) conference, Banff, AB, Canada.

Smith, V. K. and H. A. Klaiber. 2011. General equilibrium benefit analyses for social programs. Presented January 7, 2011 at the Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, Denver, CO.

2010

Klaiber, A., A. Strong and V. K. Smith. 2010. Does residential water demand respond to climatic conditions?. Presented June 19, 2010 at the World Congress of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Klaiber, H. A., V. K. Smith and M. Kaminsky. 2010. Estimating the price elasticity of demand for water with quasi-experimental methods. Presented on July 26, 2010 at the American Agricultural Economics Association meeting, Denver, CO.

Smith, V. K. 2010. Discussant on Jouni Paavola's paper entitled "Climate Change: The Ultimate ‘Tragedy of the Commons'?". Evolution of Property Rights Related to Land and Natural Resources, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Conference, Cambridge, MA, September 20-21, 2010.

Smith, V. K. 2010. How can policy encourage economically sensible climate adaptation?. Presented at The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy. A meeting held by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Washington D.C., May 13-14, 2010.

Smith, V. K. 2010. Present findings on economic value of alternative land uses. Presented June 9, 2010 at the Sonoran Institute, Phoenix, AZ.

Smith, V. K. 2010. Reforming institutions: Getting prices right. Panel member at Resources for the Future, Conference on Climate Adaptation, Washington DC, June 20-22, 2010.

Smith, V. K. 2010. Tradeoffs for land systems analysis. Panel member October 19, 2010 at the Global Land Project, GLP Open Science Meeting 2010--Land Systems, Global Change and Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

Smith, V. K. 2010. Valuing ecosystem services in general equilibrium. Presented May 17, 2010 at the Environment Resource Group Seminar, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA.

Smith, V. K. 2010. Valuing ecosystem services in general equilibrium. Presented April 19, 2010 at Economic Evaluations of Water/Energy Interactions for Policy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

Reports

2017

Larson, K., R. Andrade, A. York, D. Childers, P. Coseo, S. Earl, M. Ehlenz, N. Grimm, S. Hall, S. Harlan, D. Hondula, S. Lerman, D. Pfeiffer, J. Ripplinger, V. K. Smith, P. Warren, M. Watkins, D. White, S. Wittlinger, M. Wright and A. Wutich. 2017. The Phoenix Area Social Survey IV: Linking Social and Biophysical Dynamics in Urban Neighborhoods. (link )

2013

Larson, K. L., D. D. White, P. Gober, C. W. Kirkwood, V. K. Smith, M. C. Nelson, C. L. Redman and S. K. Wittlinger. 2013. Advancing science in support of water policy and urban climate change adaptation at Arizona State University’s Decision Center for a Desert City: A synthesis of interdisciplinary research on climate, water, and decision making under uncertainty. Decision Center for a Desert City, Arizona State University. Technical Report 13-02. (link )

2010

Smith, V. K. 2010. Pre-positioned policy as public adaptation to climate change. Resources for the Future. Issue Brief 10-07.

2007

Harlan, S. L., M. Budruk, A. Gustafson, K. L. Larson, D. M. Ruddell, V. K. Smith, A. Y. Wutich and S. T. Yabiku. 2007. Phoenix area social survey 2006 highlights: Community and environment in a desert metropolis. Center for Environmental Studies, ASU. Central Arizona - Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Series 4, Center for Environmental Studies, Arizona State Uni. (link )

Working Papers

2015

Smith, V. K., S. L. Harlan, M. McLaen, J. Fishman, C. Valcarcel and M. Nation. 2015. Compassion or cash: Evaluating survey response incentives and valuing public goods. NBER Working Paper Series 21288. DOI: 10.3386/w21288. (link )

2013

Fishman, J. and V. K. Smith. 2013. A direct test of the “explanation” for incomplete stratification in vertical sorting models. NBER Working Paper Series 19387. (link )