Jiameng Zheng

Positions

Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
Louisiana State University Agricultural Center · 2024–present

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Gies College of Business
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign · 2021–2024

Education

• Ph.D. in Public Policy, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin (2021)
• M.P.S. in Public Administration, University of Maryland, College Park (2014)
• B.S. in Economics, Wuhan University, China (2012)

Research in­ter­ests

Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics, Public Economics

Publications

1. Xibo Wan, Yongwang Ren, Ruohao Zhang, Jiameng Zheng, and Wendong Zhang (2026). “Quantifying Recreational Benefits from Fish Consumption Advisories: Insights from Cell Phone Mobility Data.” Land Economics, 102(3), 313–338.
2. Margarita Petrusevich, Wes Austin, Jiameng Zheng, Mary F. Evans, Lala Ma, and Sheila Olmstead (2025). “Impacts of the US Safe Drinking Water Act Arsenic Rule on Arsenic Occurrence.” Environmental Science & Technology.
3. Matthew Lisk, Danielle S. Grogan, Shan Zuidema, Jiameng Zheng, Robert Caccese, Darrah Peklak, Karen Fisher-Vanden, Richard B. Lammers, Sheila M. Olmstead, and Lara Fowler (2024). “Harmonized Database of Western US Water Rights (HarDWR) v. 1.” Scientific Data, 11(1), 598.
4. Yusuke Kuwayama, Sheila Olmstead, and Jiameng Zheng (2022). “A More Comprehensive Estimate of the Value of Water Quality.” Journal of Public Economics, 207, 104600. *
5. Sheila Olmstead and Jiameng Zheng (2021). “Water Pollution Control in Developing Countries: Policy Instruments and Empirical Evidence.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 15(2), 261–280. *
6. Yusuke Kuwayama, Sheila M. Olmstead, Derek C. Wietelman, and Jiameng Zheng (2020). “Trends in Nutrient-Related Pollution as a Source of Potential Water Quality Damages: A Case Study of Texas, USA.” Science of the Total Environment, 724, 137962.

* Equal con­tri­bu­tion among au­thors, listed al­pha­bet­i­cally.

Other pub­li­ca­tions

• Libin Zhang, Sheng Shao, Fang Dong, and Jiameng Zheng (2020). “Access to Water for Hydraulic Fracturing in China.” In Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas (pp. 113–134), Springer.

Public Scholarship & Commentary

• Ruohao Zhang, Jiameng Zheng, Wendong Zhang, and Xibo Wan (2025). “You can be ex­posed to PFAS through food, wa­ter, even swim­ming in lakes — new maps show how risk from ‘forever chem­i­cals’ varies.” The Conversation, September 4, 2025.

Working pa­pers

• The Effect of Lead from Drinking Water on Long-Run Educational Outcomes (In sub­mis­sion).
• Purchase-Based Estimates of Household Dietary PFAS Exposure in the United States: Magnitude, Disparities, and the Role of Dietary Composition, with Jiahui Guo, Ruohao Zhang, Yongwang Ren, Xibo Wan, and Wendong Zhang (In sub­mis­sion).
• Bringing Hydrologic Realism to Water Markets, with Karen Fisher-Vanden, Danielle Grogan, Richard Lammers, Matthew Lisk, Sheila Olmstead, Shan Zuidema, Alex Prusevich, and Lara Fowler (Revise and re­sub­mit, Water Resources Research).
• Health and Mobility Impacts of Industrial Chemical Accidents.
• Estimating Water Quality Benefits and Distributional Impacts in Three U.S. Regions, with Yoojin Cha, Daniel Douglas, Dimitris Friesen, Yusuke Kuwayama, Sheila Olmstead, and Daniel Phaneuf (Working pa­per; prepar­ing for sub­mis­sion).
• Health Impacts of Natural Disasters, with Andrew Ireland, David Molitor, and Tatyana Deryugina (Working pa­per).

Selected works in progress

• Using Mobility Data to Estimate Water Quality Benefits, with Yoojin Cha, Daniel Douglas, Dimitris Friesen, Yusuke Kuwayama, Sheila Olmstead, and Daniel Phaneuf.
• Hedonic Analysis of Invasive Aquatic Plants on Property Values in Louisiana, with Garrett Wainright, Jerrod Penn, Thomas Douthat, Victoria Moreno, Ivan Grijalva, and Rodrigo Diaz.

Research grants

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science to Achieve Results (STAR). “Estimating the Missing Benefits of Water Quality by Nesting Recreation Demand and Hedonic Modeling.” $741,054 (2022–2025). Co-PI; Jiameng Zheng’s share: $117,933. PI: Sheila Olmstead. Co-PIs: Yusuke Kuwayama, Nolan Miller, Daniel Phaneuf, and Jiameng Zheng.
• Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. “From Awareness to Action: Assessing PFAS Exposure in Communities and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Its Mitigation Strategies.” $100,000 (2023–2025). Co-PI. PI: Ruohao Zhang. Co-PIs: Xibo Wan, Wendong Zhang, and Jiameng Zheng.
• Resources for the Future. “A Retrospective Analysis of the Benefits and Costs of the SDWA Arsenic Rule.” $20,000 (2023–2024). Co-PI. PI: Mary Evans. Co-PIs: Wes Austin, Lala Ma, Sheila Olmstead, and Jiameng Zheng.
• Gies College of Business. “The Impact of Drinking Water Lead Pollution on Blood Lead Levels.” $8,311 (2023–2025). PI. Co-PI: Nolan Miller.

Selected Research Recognition

• 2026 — ASHEcon Program Chair Award — Environment and Health. Award for an out­stand­ing ab­stract in the Environment and Health pro­gram area for “Resilient or Scarred? Mortality and Morbidity af­ter Natural Disasters.”

Recent in­vited con­fer­ence and work­shop pre­sen­ta­tions

• 2025: W5190 Multi-state Meeting; CU Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Workshop; RFF After Implementation Webinar; W5133 Multi-state Meeting.
• 2024: University of Wyoming; Public Policy Institute of California; Louisiana State University; AERE–MEA Annual Conference; AERE Summer Conference; ASHEcon Annual Conference; China Economics Society–China Conference; Social Cost of Water Pollution Workshop.
• 2023: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Heartland Workshop (poster).
• 2022: Heartland Workshop (poster); University of Texas at Austin; Stony Brook University (SoMAS); AERE–MEA Annual Conference; Brookings Graduate Workshop on Data-Driven Environmental Economics Research from the EPA.
• 2021: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; AERE Summer Conference (virtual); AERE–SEA Annual Conference (virtual); WEAI Annual Conference (virtual).

Teaching ex­pe­ri­ence

Louisiana State University, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

• Environmental Economics and Policy (Undergraduate, Instructor), Spring 2025
• Agribusiness Research Applications (Graduate, Instructor), Fall 2025
• Water Resource Economics (Graduate, Instructor), Fall 2025
• Nonmarket Valuation (Graduate, Co-instructor with Jerrod Penn), Spring 2026
• Research Methods and Second-Year Paper Seminar (Graduate, Instructor), Fall 2026

Student men­tor­ship

Graduate stu­dent men­tor­ship

• Xiaowen Huang — Ph.D., Dissertation com­mit­tee co-chair
• Yebon Cha — M.S., Thesis com­mit­tee chair
• Wyatt Fakler — M.S., Thesis com­mit­tee co-chair (graduated Summer 2026)

Thesis and dis­ser­ta­tion com­mit­tee mem­ber­ships

• Juyong Yoo — Ph.D., Dissertation com­mit­tee mem­ber (2025)
• Atiyeh Sakeni — M.S., Thesis com­mit­tee mem­ber (2025)
• Daniel Harris — M.S., Thesis com­mit­tee mem­ber (2025)
• Amelia Yadeth López Castilblanco — M.S., Thesis com­mit­tee mem­ber (current)

Undergraduate re­search men­tor­ship

• Garrett Wainright — Undergraduate re­search co-ad­vi­sor

Student Research Recognition

Garrett Wainright (2026), “Hedonic Analysis of Invasive Aquatic Plants on Property Values in Louisiana” (Co-advised by Jiameng Zheng and Jerrod Penn).

• 1st Place, AAEA Undergraduate Student Paper Competition
• 2nd Place, Oral Presentations — STEM Disciplines, LSU Discover Day
• Runner-Up, E.J. Ourso College of Business, LSU Discover Day

Professional and de­part­men­tal ser­vice

Federal grant re­view: Grant Review Panelist, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).

Departmental: Seminar Committee (2025–present).

Journal re­viewer: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management; Land Economics; Environmental Politics; Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics; Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists; Applied Economics; Child Development.

Professional ser­vice: Topic Leader, Health Economics Section, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA); AERE Summer Conference ab­stract re­viewer; AERE–SEA ab­stract re­viewer; Society for Benefit–Cost Analysis con­fer­ence dis­cus­sant; WEAI Annual Conference dis­cus­sant; AERE–MEA Annual Conference dis­cus­sant.