Bryan Pratt

Bryan is a Research Agricultural Economist with the USDA Economic Research Service. He received his PhD from the Economics Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research interests currently include water, utility policy, environmental economics, climate, and transportation.  As an undergraduate at  George Washington University, Bryan began with an interest in economic development and how institutional capacity could drive or hinder progress in various areas of development.  Through his experience interning with the United Nations Development Programme and subsequent work in the international development arena, he became increasingly interested in environmental topics and policies.  As a PhD student, Bryan has developed a research agenda around drought policy and residential water consumption, in addition to other work in agriculture and other fields.  His last project in this area centered on an unusual and novel drought policy imposed in Santa Cruz, where he uncovered evidence that strong utility policies designed to target households that use excessive water can generate substantial conservation among non-targeted households.  Additional co-authored work examines the complementarity between pecuniary and non-pecuniary incentives.