Aaron Strong

Contact Information

Economist

Washington Office

Education

Ph.D. in economics, University of Colorado; M.A. in economics, University of Colorado; M.S. in applied mathematics, University of Colorado; B.A. in mathematics, Luther College

Overview

Aaron Strong is an economist at the RAND Corporation. As an applied microeconomist who specializes in environmental and natural resource economics, his recent work has focused on developing a framework for estimating the value of the resilience dividend, a landscape survey of decision support tools for flood risk mitigation, estimating the impact of oil and natural gas prices on development and extraction, and estimating the value of natural capital in a western rangeland. He has used his work on computable general equilibrium models to help Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands estimate future prices stemming from recovery efforts. In addition to the environmental work, he has estimated the macroeconomic impact of a variety of different policies and programs including: land loss in Louisiana, changes to workers' compensation in California, Medicaid expansion, and changes to regulations for oil and gas refineries in California. Currently, his interest is centered on better understanding the financial landscape for resilience and sustainability investments and how to crowd in private sector investments. Strong earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Previously, he held faculty positions at the University of Iowa and the University of Wyoming. In addition, he had post-docs with the G8 Legacy Chair in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Calgary and the Center for Environmental Economics and Sustainability Policy at Arizona State University.

Research Focus

Selected Publications

Aaron Strong, Tedeja Gracner, Peggy Chen and Kandice Kapinos, "On the Value of the Umbilical Cord Blood Supply", Value in Health (forthcoming)

Craig Bond, Aaron Strong, Nicholas Burger, Sarah Weilant, Uzaib Saya, and Anita Chandra, Resilience Dividend Valuation Model: Framework Development and Initial Case Studies, RAND (RR-2129-RF), 2017

Barnes, Stephen R.; Bond, Craig; Burger, Nicholas; Anania, Kate; Strong, Aaron; Weilant, Sarah; and Virgets, Stephanie, "Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana," Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economcis, 4(1), 2017

Eric Tate, Aaron Strong, Travis Kraus, and Haoyi Xiong, "Flood Recovery and Property Acquisition in Cedar Rapids, Iowa," Natural Hazards, 80(3), 2016

Aaron Strong and Christopher Goemans, "The Impact of Real-time Quantity Information on Residential Water Demand," Water Resources and Economics, 10, 2015

H. Allen Klaiber, V. Kerry Smith, Michael Kaminsky and Aaron Strong, "Measuring Price Elasticities for Residential Water Demand with Limited Information," Land Economics, 90(1), 2014

Aaron Strong and Christopher Goemans, "Quantity Uncertainty and Demand: The Case of Water Smart Reader Ownership,," B.E. Journal of Policy Analysis and Economcis, 14(3), 2014

Honors & Awards

Bronze Medal (2016), RAND

Commentary

Environmental Impact Bonds May Not Bear Fruit for Green Investors
Investors may be willing to accept a lower return for socially responsible investments. But environmental impact bonds may not be the best way to leverage these investment possibilities.
Nov 26, 2017 Zilient

Publications

Report
Incorporating Resilience into Transportation Planning and Assessment
RAND researchers explore how to better incorporate principles of resilience into the decisionmaking process for long-term transportation planning.
Oct 16, 2019
Draft
Draft
Systemic Cyber Risk and Aggregate Impacts
Contributes a theoretical framework and constructs a quantitative model to study systemic cyber risk and aggregate impacts.
Sep 27, 2019
Report
At the Dawn of Belt and Road: China in the Developing World
China has always felt vulnerable, and, in the 1990s, it began forming agreements with other nations, eventually culminating in the Belt and Road Initiative. The authors analyze China's engagement with the Developing World.
Oct 16, 2018
Report
Report
Estimating the Global Cost of Cyber Risk: Methodology and Examples
This report shares a transparent and adaptable methodology for estimating present and future global costs of cyber risk. The report has a companion Excel-based modeling and simulation platform that allows users to alter assumptions.
Jan 15, 2018
Report
Challenges to the Sustainability of the U.S. Public Cord Blood System
We describe the existing public cord blood bank (CBB) system, assess current trends and economic relationships from the perspective of stakeholders in the CBB system, and provide recommendations for ways to improve the sustainability of the system.
Sep 29, 2017
Research Brief
Public Cord Blood Banks: Worthy of National Investment
RAND studied trends affecting public cord blood banks and considered changes to the program to buttress banks' financial stability. Researchers found a system worthy of investment, especially if it helps improve the quality of the national inventory.
Sep 29, 2017
Report
Landscape Survey to Support Flood Apex National Flood Decision Support Toolbox: Definitions and Existing Tools
This report summarizes the literature on resilience to flood risk, its analysis and measurement, and examples. It also catalogs decision support tools for flood mitigation and makes recommendations for further investigation of the tools.
Sep 7, 2017
Draft
Draft
Nutritious or Nuisance on Net? Values of Natural Capital in a Competitive Terrestrial Rangeland Ecosystem
Illustrates how the value of rangelands ecosystems across the western United States may change as invasive species alter the landscape.
Aug 22, 2017
Report
Guide to the Resilience Dividend Valuation Model
This guide provides an overview of and guidance on the Resilience Dividend Valuation Model, a framework designed to help policymakers and practitioners estimate the resilience dividend from projects they are considering or have implemented.
Aug 1, 2017
Report
Resilience Dividend Valuation Model: Framework Development and Initial Case Studies
This report describes the development of the Resilience Dividend Valuation Model, a complementary framework designed to help communities estimate the resilience dividend from resilience projects or investment.
Aug 1, 2017
Journal Article
Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana
This study quantifies the economic assets and activity that is at risk from the process of land loss in coastal Louisiana in a future without restoration and protection efforts to minimize or mitigate land loss.
Jul 19, 2017
Report
Report
Modeling the Economic Impact of a California Workers' Compensation Formulary
This report estimates the potential impacts of a California Workers' Compensation formulary in terms of changes in prescription drug use and spending and discusses the potential broader impacts of these changes on the California economy.
Jul 17, 2017
Report
Cost–Benefit Analysis of Proposed California Oil and Gas Refinery Regulations
New safety standards for oil and gas refineries in California might reduce refinery incidents, providing benefits to the public and savings to California consumers. To be worth the cost, the rules would have to produce modest improvements in safety.
Mar 16, 2016
Journal Article
Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana
This report presents an economic evaluation of assets and activities at risk from land loss and associated storm damage in coastal Louisiana. The results show a significant level of risk to economic assets and activity in Louisiana.
2015