Zhenshan Chen
Blacksburg, VA 24061
My research focuses on coastal flood risk, renewable energy development, land use, and fishery issues. I work on policy evaluation and the nonmarket valuation of related policies and projects. As a secondary interest, I explore topics in applied econometrics. Much of my work involves integrating high-quality, large datasets and adapting novel statistical methods to address specific research questions. I enjoy the efficiency that comes from critical thinking and algorithmic approaches, though I’ve come to appreciate that trade-offs occur more frequently than one might expect.
Expertise
Applied econometrics and economic analytics; energy and public economics; environmental and natural resource economics
Education
- Ph.D., Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 2021
- M.S., Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 2014
- B.S., Physics, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 2011
My past and working research topics mostly focus on environmental adaptation and resilience, the related public policies, and the effects on and responses from the communities. Specific research topics include: how flood risk and related mitigation efforts affect coastal housing prices in Connecticut; how to model coastal residents’ preferences toward different climate change adaptation plans in Virginia; Long Island Sound anglers’ preference and compliance toward different management plans; recreational homeowners’ impact on agricultural land use; coastal residents' valuation of oyster restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico states under outcome uncertainty; how solar development affect property value in the U.S.
My future research is expected to involve the following aspects: utilizing large-scale high-resolution spatial data to facilitate resilience for both coastal and inland areas, documenting and forecasting behavioral changes in response to environmental and policy changes, and bridging empirical and survey data with improved methods in environmental valuation.
Research and Working Papers in Progress
- Dynamic Sorting in the Coastal Housing Market - Who Surfs the Tide, Who Bears the Blunt?
- Heterogeneous impacts of cover crop on yield, fertilizer use, and insurance payments in the United States
- Causal Machine Learning for Policy Evaluation with Housing Transaction Data
Ongoing Projects
- "Fast and (or?) Fair: Are rapid and equitable processes for large-scale solar development mutually exclusive?” DOE EERE SETO SEEDS 4, $2.5 m, PI: Douglas Bessette. 01/01/2025 – 12/31/2027
- "Fair and Viable Carbon Markets for Farmers: Empowering Sustainable Agriculture Practitioners"
- VT ISCE PREP, $10k. PI. 08/2024 – 06/2025
- "Piloting Agri-photovoltaic Solutions for Sustainable Ruminant Production Systems" The John Lee Pratt Endowment, $150k. PI: Zachary Easton. 06/15/2024 - 06/15/2025
- "Advancing the Vision 2030-2047 Concept through Student-led Project-based Learning" VT CETL High-Impact Project Grant, $10k. PI: Robin White. Fall 2024
- "A systematic approach to link soilborne pathogens, soil physicochemical characteristics, plant disease occurrence, and crop yield for the development of integrated disease management"
- CALS Integrated Internal Competitive Seed Grant, $75k. PI: Yuan Zeng. 05/01/2023 - 12/30/2024
Current teaching
- AAEC 5824 Advanced Applied Economic Analytics (with Python)
- AAEC 3014 Analytical Methods in Applied Economics
Previous courses
- Environmental Economics, EEC535, College of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island
Experience
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, Aug. 2022 - Present
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, Aug. 2021 - July 2022
Awards
- Predoctoral Fellowship, ARE, UConn
- Nathan Koenig AG/EC Student Fund Award, ARE, UConn
- Outstanding Poster Presentation, Graduate Student Research Forum, CAHNR, UConn
- Paul Putnam Travel Award, ARE, UConn
- Stewart Johnson Scholarship, ARE, UConn
“Impact of Large-scale Solar on Property Values in the US: Diverse Effects and Causal Mechanisms” with Nate Hu, Pengfei Liu, Wei Zhang, Xi He, and Darrell Bosch. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025.
Mechanisms” with Nate Hu, Pengfei Liu, Wei Zhang, Xi He, and Darrell Bosch. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025.
”Heterogeneous Flood Zone Effects on Coastal Housing Prices - Risk Signal and Mandatory Costs” with Charles Towe and Xi He. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2025.
"The Value of Oyster Reef Restoration" with Daniel Petrolia, Freedom Enyetornye, and Seong Yun. Marine Resource Economics, 2025.
"Revealed Preferences from Voluntary Contributions" with Stephen Swallow. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2024.
"Pricing Coastal Amenities and Flood Hazards" with Charles Towe. Land Economics, 2023.
"The Influence of Projected Outcomes on Preferences over Alternative Regulations: Evidence from a Recreational Fishery". Zhenshan Chen, Pengfei Liu, Eric Schultz, Jacob Kasper, Stephen Swallow. Land Economics, 2022.
"Weather, Cropland Expansion, and Deforestation in Ethiopia". Xi He and Zhenshan Chen. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2022.
"Recreational Home Owners’ Impact on Agricultural Land Use". Charles Towe and Zhenshan Chen. Land Economics, 2022.
"Nonparticipation and Heterogeneity in Stated Preference: A Double Hurdle Latent Class Approach for Climate Change Adaptation Plans and Ecosystem Services". Zhenshan Chen, Stephen Swallow, and Ian Yue. Environmental and Resource Economics, 2020.