Wei Zhang
- Assistant Professor
314 Hutcheson Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
My research focuses on the environmental and resource-use implications of agricultural production and the design of agri-environmental policy. I also conducted research on environmental and agricultural issues in China and other developing countries.
Expertise:
Agricultural economics; environmental and natural resource economics
Education
- Ph.D., Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, 2013
- M.S., Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2008
- B.S., Nankai University, China, 2005
Current Projects
Benefits and costs of the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program Nature reserves and households in rural China Measures of biological capital in the form of living trees and vines Climate change and agricultural productivity growth On-farm loss and waste of vegetables in the United States |
Teaching experience
Virginia Tech
- AAEC 3324: Environment and Sustainable Development Economics. Spring 2020; Fall 2021, 2022,
2024 - AAEC 6554: Panel Data Econometrics. Fall 2020, 2021, 2023
- AAEC 6524: Environmental Economic Theory and Policy Analysis. Spring 2021; Fall 2022, 2024
Connecticut College
- ECO/ES 212: Environmental Economics. Fall 2014–2017, Spring 2015
- ECO 230: Econometrics I. Spring 2015–2016, Fall 2016–2017
- ECO 205: Intermediate Microeconomics. Fall 2015
- ECO 404: Seminar in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Spring 2016
University of California, Davis
Instructor, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, Summer 2012
- ARE 106: Econometric Theory and Application
Teaching Assistant, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics
- ARE 240B: Econometric Methods, Spring 2012 (Ph.D. Core Course)
- ARE 106: Econometric Theory and Applications, Summer 2009
- ARE 171B: Financial Management of the Firm, Spring 2009
- ARE 115A: Economic Development, Winter 2009
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Teaching Assistant, Department of Resource Economics
- RESECON 262: Environmental Economics, Fall 2007
- RESECON 212: Introductory Statistics, Spring 2006
- RESECON 263: Natural Resource Economics, Fall 2005
Experience
- Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, 2019-present
- Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Connecticut College, 2014-2019
- Post-doctoral Researcher, University of California Agricultural Issues Center, 2013-2014
Awards
- GAP Initiative Faculty Research Fellowship, Virginia Tech CALS Global, 2021
- ISCE Scholars Program, Virginia Tech, 2020
* denotes current or former graduate student
- Hu, Chenyang*, Zhenshan Chen, Pengfei Liu, Wei Zhang, Xi He, and Darrell Bosch. 2025. Impact of Large-scale Solar on Property Values in the US: Diverse Effects and Causal Mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 122(24), e2418414122.
- Benami, Elinor, Anne Carroll*, Kent D. Messer, Wei Zhang, and Michael Cecil. 2025. Seeding Change: Growing Insights from Four Programs to Support Climate-Resilient Soil and Water Conservation in US Agriculture. Agricultural Economics, 56(3): 457–473.
- Chavas, Jean-Paul and Wei Zhang. 2025. An Ex Ante Analysis of the Effects of Climate on Agricultural Production Risk. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 50(2): 240-263.
- Yao, Zhenyu*, Wei Zhang, Xinde Ji, and Weizhe Weng, 2023. Short-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Cognitive Performance: New Evidence from China’s College English Test. Environmental and Resource Economics, 85(1): 211-237.
- Liu, Pengfei, Yu Wang, and Wei Zhang, 2023. The Influence of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program on Local Water Quality. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 105(1): 27–51.
- Zhang, Wei, 2022. Too Smoggy for Kids to Go to School? Air Quality and Preschool Enrollments in Chinese Cities. Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, 1(3): 270–284.
- Zhang, Wei, 2022. Economic Analysis of the Environmental Sustainability of Agriculture: Recent Studies using Quasi-Experimental Methods. China Agricultural Economic Review 14(2): 259–273.
- Zhang, Wei, 2021. California’s Climate Policy and the Dairy Manufacturing Industry: How Does a Federal Milk Marketing Order Matter? Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 46(3): 401-424.
- Zhang, Wei, 2018. Costs of A Practice-Based Air Quality Regulation: Dairy Farms in the San Joaquin Valley. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 100(3): 762–785.
- Zhang, Wei, C.-Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell, and Victoria I. Umanskaya. 2017. The Effects of License Plate- Based Driving Restrictions on Air Quality: Theory and Empirical Evidence. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 82: 181–220.