Senior Researcher, RAND; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
Jonathan Welburn is a senior researcher at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy, where he applies computational and financial economics, decision science, and risk analysis to identify policy solutions for managing systemic risks and market failures.
Welburn's current focus is on building the evidence base policymakers need to strengthen economic security and stability under transformative AI. He recently led and published a wide-ranging body of work on rethinking social and economic policy in an era of widespread AI adoption, including studies on the macroeconomic implications of AI, sectoral transformation, the cascading impacts of AI on labor markets and financial systems, and a framework to help decisionmakers navigate systemic risks.
Welburn's broader portfolio spans systemic risk in global interfirm networks and the identification of systemically important entities, the macroeconomic consequences of large-scale cyber risks and opportunities for enhanced cyber deterrence, and policy solutions ranging from global supply chain resilience to financial inclusion for unbanked Californians.
His work has been sponsored by federal agencies including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Department of Defense, the Air Force, and the Army, and published in RAND reports, academic journals, and national news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.
Welburn also teaches computational economics at the RAND School and serves on the U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research Advisory Committee, the Aspen Cybersecurity Group, the Society for Risk Analysis council, and the Decision Analysis Society council.
Ph.D. in decision science & operations research, University of Wisconsin – Madison; B.Sc. in industrial & systems engineering and economics, University of Wisconsin – Madison
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