About

Jeremy West is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research focuses on environmental and resource economics, with particular attention to the economic impacts of pollution, energy efficiency, and water conservation policies. He has contributed to understanding socioeconomic disparities in pollution remediation, the effects of energy efficiency disclosures in housing markets, and the role of automated enforcement and social pressure in water conservation. West's work also explores the intersection of public health and economics, including studies on COVID-19 vaccination incentives and the economic consequences of school reopenings during the pandemic. His research employs empirical methods to analyze policy impacts on environmental quality, urbanization, and employment dynamics, contributing to both academic literature and policy discussions.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Finance
• Economics
• Business
• Microeconomics
• Public economics
• Financial economics
• Virology
• Accounting
• Actuarial science
• Internal medicine
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Biology
• Environmental protection
• Marketing
• Management
• Environmental health
• Environmental chemistry
• Chemistry
• Environmental planning

Selected publications

• Data and Code for: Socioeconomic Disparities in Privatized Pollution Remediation: Evidence from Toxic Chemical Spills

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-04-01

  datasetOpen accessSenior author

  Replication code and data accompanying the research article.<br><b>Article Abstract:</b> Governments often privatize the administration of regulations to third-party specialists paid for by the regulated parties. We study how the resulting conflict of interest can have unintended consequences for the distributional impacts of regulation. In Massachusetts, the party responsible for hazardous waste contamination must hire a licensed contractor to quantify the environmental severity. We find that contractors' evaluations favor their clients, exhibiting substantial score bunching just below thresholds that determine government oversight of the remediation. Client favoritism is more pronounced in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods and is associated with inferior remediation quality, highlighting a novel channel for inequities in pollution exposure.<br>

  PublisherDOI

• Socioeconomic Disparities in Privatized Pollution Remediation: Evidence from Toxic Chemical Spills

  American Economic Journal Applied Economics · 2024 · 6 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Environmental planning
  • Environmental protection

  Governments often privatize the administration of regulations to third-party specialists paid for by the regulated parties. We study how the resulting conflict of interest can have unintended consequences for the distributional impacts of regulation. In Massachusetts, the party responsible for hazardous waste contamination must hire a licensed contractor to quantify the environmental severity. We find that contractors’ evaluations favor their clients, exhibiting substantial score bunching just below thresholds that determine government oversight of the remediation. Client favoritism is more pronounced in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods and is associated with inferior remediation quality, highlighting a novel channel for inequities in pollution exposure. (JEL D63, J15, K32, L51, Q53, R23)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cleaner Waters and Urbanization

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Cleaner waters and urbanization

  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · 2023-09-04 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The Clean Water Act (CWA) addresses nonpoint source pollution primarily by funding public works projects. Our study evaluates changes in rural watersheds before and after CWA projects are implemented, compared to watersheds without funding. We find that projects significantly reduce water pollution, with corresponding increases in human population and residential construction. Using housing values, we estimate that economic benefits exceed government costs by at least fourfold. Over half of this benefit is attributable to new housing. Our findings show that pollution can impede urbanization, suggesting more broadly that residential development is an important mechanism of revealed preference for environmental quality.

  PublisherDOI

• Who Benefits from Surface Water Pollution Programs?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2022-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• School reopenings, COVID-19, and employment

  Economics Letters · 2022-02-02 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Using a panel of United States counties, this study compares outcomes before and during the 2020-2021 school year between locations that started K-12 instruction on campus, remotely, or through a hybrid approach. Corroborating recent studies, we find comparatively larger increases of COVID-19 cases and deaths in locations using any in-person instruction. Within the same empirical framework, we present robust new evidence that employment was unaffected by this choice, even in counties with more vulnerable populations. We posit that opening schools did not improve employment due to policy uncertainty, supported by the fact that one-quarter of schools changed teaching methods mid-year.

  PublisherDOI

• Mandatory Energy Efficiency Disclosure in Housing Markets

  American Economic Journal Economic Policy · 2022 · 39 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Business
  • Actuarial science
  • Accounting

  Mandatory disclosure policies are implemented broadly despite sparse evidence that they improve market outcomes. We study the effects of requiring home sellers to provide buyers with certified audits of residential energy efficiency. Using similar nearby homes as a comparison group, we find that this requirement increases price premiums for energy efficiency and encourages energy-saving investments. We additionally present evidence highlighting the market failure—incomplete information by both buyers and sellers—that prevents widespread voluntary disclosure of energy efficiency in housing transactions. Our findings support that disclosure policies can improve market outcomes in settings with symmetrically incomplete information. (JEL D83, K32, L98, Q41, Q48, R31)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cleaner Waters and Urbanization

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2022-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Conditional cash lotteries increase COVID-19 vaccination rates

  Journal of Health Economics · 2021 · 97 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Economics
  • Virology
  • Medicine

  Conditional cash lotteries (CCLs) provide people with opportunities to win monetary prizes only if they make specific behavioral changes. We conduct a case study of Ohio's Vax-A-Million initiative, the first CCL targeting COVID-19 vaccinations. Forming a synthetic control from other states, we find that Ohios incentive scheme increases the vaccinated share of state population by 1.5 percent (0.7 pp), costing sixty-eight dollars per person persuaded to vaccinate. We show this causes significant reductions in COVID-19, preventing at least one infection for every six vaccinations that the lottery had successfully encouraged. These findings are promising for similar CCL public health initiatives.

  PublisherDOI

• School Reopenings, COVID-19, and Employment

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2021-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Steven L. Puller

  Texas A&M University

  33 shared

• Jonathan Meer

  Texas A&M University

  31 shared

• Mark Hoekstra

  27 shared

• Qianping Ren

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  4 shared

• Robert W. Fairlie

  3 shared

• Adam Millard‐Ball

  3 shared

• Erica Myers

  University of Calgary

  2 shared

• Nazanin Rezaei

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  2 shared

Labs

• Economics Research GroupPI