The LBJ School of Public Affairs will honor Yoojin Cha (Ph.D. ’26) on May 9 as he is hooded during commencement, joining five other doctoral candidates in celebration of the completion of their Ph.D. degrees in Public Policy.
A specialist in environmental economics, Cha focused his doctoral research on the economic impacts of environmental policy, with an emphasis on water quality and nonmarket valuation.
“I was particularly interested in studying how environmental shocks and policies translate into measurable economic outcomes, and the LBJ School provided an ideal setting to pursue those questions.”
Cha’s dissertation examines how environmental improvements are reflected in housing markets and recreational behavior, combining recreation demand models, hedonic pricing approaches, and causal inference methods to estimate the economic value of water quality changes. His work contributes to a growing body of research in environmental economics that seeks to quantify the value of goods not directly priced in markets and inform more effective policy decisions.
Before arriving at the LBJ School, Cha completed his undergraduate degree in economics and a master’s in public policy at Seoul National University in Korea. Those experiences strengthened his ability to apply economic reasoning to complex social challenges and to analyze how incentives shape decision-making across individuals, institutions, and governments.
At the LBJ School, close faculty mentorship is central to the Ph.D. experience, with students working directly alongside leading scholars on research that connects academic rigor with real-world policy questions. For Cha, that mentorship was instrumental in shaping both his research and his broader academic trajectory. He worked closely with environmental economist Sheila Olmstead, who helped guide his specialization in nonmarket valuation, and dissertation chair Mary Evans, whose consistent feedback and support helped him refine his work and prepare for the academic job market.
“I truly believe I would not be where I am today without their support, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have learned from them.”
After graduation, Cha will join Boston University’s PLACES Lab as a postdoctoral research scholar. His research will focus on large-scale valuation of land and buildings across the United States, with particular attention to environmental risks such as hurricanes. Using emerging data sources such as satellite imagery and remote sensing, he will apply econometric and machine learning methods to better understand how environmental risks are reflected in property markets.
As he prepares for this next chapter, Cha encourages current and future LBJ students to embrace their academic journey and make the most of the opportunities around them.
“I would encourage students not to think of this period as something to simply get through. Academic training is often compared to a long-distance run, but thinking only about the finish line can make the experience feel more difficult than it needs to be. Rather, I hope they experience it as a meaningful part of their lives, one that continues to grow and enrich them along the way.”
Learn more about a Ph.D. in Public Policy and the LBJ School's 2026 commencement.