Laura Bakkensen

Dr. Laura A. Bakkensen utilizes applied microeconomic and econometric techniques to study the economics of natural disasters, identifying current hazard risks and evidence of adaptation to damages and fatalities across the globe. She also evaluates individual and policy responses to natural disasters as well as community resilience to threats including hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. Her research informs public policy on insurance regulation, pre- and post-disaster aid, severe weather warnings, and public adaptation projects. Her research has been published in journals including the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Nature Climate Change, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Risk Analysis. Dr. Bakkensen received her Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from Yale University. She 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. In 2017, she was awarded a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship.