University of California, Riverside

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The School of Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside invites applications for a post-doc position in the general area of water economics. The position will focus on agricultural water demand and groundwater policy with Dr. Bruce Babcock and Dr. Mehdi Nemati. The overall objective of this project is to provide the California citrus industry with a better understanding of the impacts on the competitiveness of citrus production from forthcoming restrictions on groundwater availability due to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This objective will be met by collecting relevant data on cost, water requirements, labor requirements, crop location, groundwater basins, important water districts, and crop acreage and yields for the important crops in the study area. The data will be used to calibrate a new model of crop supply in the study area that will be used to estimate the marginal profitability of the major tree, vines, and forage crops in the study area.

Minimum qualifications include a Ph.D. in agricultural economics, economics, or a closely related field and the potential or demonstrated ability to conduct independent quantitative research in the area of water economics and policy. Candidates with experience in mathematical optimization models and geocomputation are highly desired. The initial appointment will be for two years with the opportunity to extend the appointment for an additional year.

Start date: ASAP

Required Qualifications
• Ph.D. in agricultural economics, applied economics, or economics.
• Experience working with geospatial data to produce data sets suitable as input into simulation models.
• Strong programming skills in GAMS, GIS, and R.
• Good writing and oral communication skills

Desired qualifications
• Familiarity with California water policy
• Experience using R and/or Python software for data processing and analysis and GIS software for geospatial data processing

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.