Jimena Rico-Straffon

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. My research lies at the intersection of environmental, labor, and development economics. I use quasi-experimental methods and geospatial analysis to examine how environmental and infrastructure shocks shape economic behavior, labor markets, and inequality, drawing on granular panel data from household surveys, administrative records, and remote sensing. A complementary line of work evaluates forest-management and land-use policies using satellite imagery and difference-in-differences estimators, with findings published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and conservation journals.

My Job Market Paper studies how urban piped-water shortages affect hours worked, documenting heterogeneous impacts by gender and job formality.

I am on the 2025–2026 job market and am available for interviews.