James F. Booker

Jim Booker is an economist who has worked for three decades on the management and sustainability of water use. His teaching at Siena College has included most areas of the undergraduate curriculum. His work elsewhere includes research and teaching at major institutions across the western U.S. (Washington State University, University of Colorado, University of Wyoming) to economic development in Laos (with the International Water Management Institute). His modeling of the hydrology, law, and economics of water use in major river basins of the western U.S. has pointed to the need for intrastate, interstate, and international flexibility to reasonably address growing water demands. Dr. Booker also assists stakeholders as a consultant in hydropower project relicensing. His review article in Natural Resources Modeling covers advances over the past 25 years in the economics and modeling of water resources and policies.

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy has always been simple: ask big questions, but bring specific knowledge and approaches in attempting to make progress. My goal is to inspire and enable the student to critically examine the insights gained from these specifics. I know I've succeeded when all the reading, and spreadsheets, mathematics and analysis all come together in discussions on the biggest issues of the day.

What I Love About Siena

In the classroom at Siena I can love nurturing, guiding, and challenging my students as they grow into young professionals ready to go out and take on the world. With small classes and plenty of opportunities out of the classroom to get to know Siena students as individuals, I'm rewarded by seeing all the academic and personal growth which occurs over each student's undergraduate years.

My Favorite Courses to Teach

Environmental Economics -- what's not to like in teaching my specialty to students in majoring Economics and Environmental Studies? It's such a rich area for exploring our relationships to each other and the physical world around us that I can't help but enjoy exploring what sustainability is all about. Principles of Economics, Macro. Working with first year students is often the best -- it's great to open eyes to the forces and choices leading to our own lifestyles, and to those both more and less fortunate than ourselves.

My Professional Experience

Current Research

I am an applied economist with a focus on water resources and regional economic analysis. Recent publications include Can Reservoir Storage Be Uneconomically Large? (with John O'Neill in the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management)and Economic Impacts of Alternative Policy Responses to Prolonged and Severe Drought in the Rio Grande Basin (with F. Ward, and A.M. Michelsen in Water Resources research). I am a former President of the of the New York State Economics Association.

Articles & Book Reviews

• Implications of Water Scarcity for Water Productivity and Farm Labor
  Water
  2020
• Reconciling Alternative Approaches to Measuring Efficiency and Productivity
  Academy of Business Research Fall 2016 International Conference Proceedings
  November, 2016
• Water Productivity in Agriculture: Looking for Water in the Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency Literature
  Water Economics and Policy, vol. 02
  September, 2016
• Economics and the Modeling of Water Resources and Policies
  Natural Resource Modeling Journal, vol. 25
  February, 2012
• Water Sustainability in India
  North American Case Research Association
  October, 2011
• Economic Impacts of Instream Flow Protection for the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow in the Rio Grande Basin
  Reviews in Fisheries Science, vol. 14
  January, 2006
• Can Reservoirs Be Uneconomically Large?
  Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
  2006
• Economic Impacts of Alternative Policy Responses to Prolonged and Sever Drough in the Rio Grande Basin
  Water Resources Research, vol. 41
  February, 2005
• Institutional Innovations for Coping with Severe and Sustained Drought in an International Basin
  World Water and Environmental Resources Congress
  July, 2004
• Economic Costs and Benefits of Instream Flow Protection for Endangered Species in an International River Basin
  Journal of the American Water Resources Association, vol. 39
  April, 2003
• Integrating Professional and Curriculum Development Through Classroom Based Research
  Annual Teaching Economics Conference
  February, 2003
• Transboundary Instream Flows: Perspectives from an International River Basin
  Transboundary Water Management, Joint UCOWR, EWRI, NGWA, COE-IWR Conference
  July, 2002
• Foregone Benefits in Supplying Water for Endangered Species Recovery
  Universities Council on Water Resources and American Water Resources Association Joint Meeting
  June, 2001
• Colorado River Water Use and Climate: Model and Application
  Journal of the American Water Resources Association
  Summer, 2022
• Estimating Natural Resource and Energy Flows from New York State Economic Activity
  New York Economic Review, vol. 42
  Fall, 2011
• Integrated Economic, Hydrologic and Institutional Analysis of Policy Responses to Mitigate Drought Impacts in the Rio Grande Basin
  Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, vol. 132
  Winter, 2006
• Water Crisis in India
  Case Research Journal, vol. 34
  Summer, 2014

Awards & Distinctions

•  Faculty mentor for winning student Julie Sullivan '14.
  Category: Teaching
  New York State Economics Association, 2014
• Siena College School of Business Service Award
  Category: Service-University
  Siena College, 2014
• Best Paper Award, Economics Track (advisor)
  Category: Other
  Siena College Student Conference in Business, 2008
• Best Paper Award, Economics Track (advisor)
  Category: Other
  Siena College Student Conference in Business, 2007
• Siena College School of Business Research Excellence Award
  Category: Research
  Siena College School of Business Research Excellence Award, 2007
• Alfred University
  Category: Teaching
  Omicron Delta Kappa Faculty Leadership Award, 1999
• Alfred University
  Category: Teaching
  The Ruth Berger Rubenstein Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1999

Books & Book Chapters

• Water and Climate Change
  Elsevier
  2022
• Understanding Place: GIS and Mapping across the Curriculum
  ESRI Press
  2007

Presentations

• Agriculture and Irrigation Productivity Estimates: Implications for Household Income Amid Growing Water Scarcity
  July, 2019
  Western Economics Association International, San Francisco, California
• Implications of Growing Water Scarcity: Productivity and Farm Labor
  2019
  New York State Economics Association Annual Conference, Rochester, New York
• When to teach market power in a principles course? Beginning, End, Everywhere?
  October, 2018
  EconED, Nashville, Tennessee
• Demand Characteristics and Future Use of Colorado River Basin Streamflows
  November, 2017
  American Water Resources Association Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon
• Single Factor Productivity Theory and Policy
  October, 2016
  New York State Economics Association Annual Conference, Farmingdale, New York
• Economics of Agricultural Water Productivity: An Application in the Blue Nile Basin
  July, 2016
  iEMSS Conference 2016, Toulouse, France
• Water Resources and Economics: Applications from Far to Near
  2016
  Seminar in Environmental Science and Regional Planning, Richland, Washington
• How to Assess Agricultural Water Productivity? Looking for Water in the Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency Literature
  2014
  International Water and Resource Economics Consortium 11th Conference, Washington, District of Columbia
• Insights from Hydroeconomic Modeling
  2014
  World Bank International Workshop, Going Beyond Agricultural Water Productivity, Washington, District of Columbia
• Panel Discussion on Going Forward: Conceptual and Data Issues
  2014
  World Bank International Workshop, Going Beyond Agricultural Water Productivity, Washington, District of Columbia
• Public Perceptions of Shale Gas Development in New York State: The Role of Media
  2014
  New York State Economics Association Annual Conference, Loudonville, New York
• Reservoir Storage and Climate Change: Model and Application
  June, 2011
  International Water and Resource Economics Consortium 9th Conference, Calgary, Canada
• Advances in Hydroeconomic Modeling
  2011
  MAA-AMS Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston, Massachusetts
• Quantifying Impacts in a Problem Based Service Learning Environment
  June, 2010
  Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon
• Drought and Climate: Impacts on Sustainable Water Use in a Regulated River Basin
  2009
  Siena College Physics Department Brown Bag series, Loudonville, New York
• Incorporating Project Based Service Learning into the Public Finance Course
  2009
  New York State Economics Association Annual Conference, Ithaca, New York
• Water Storage and Expectations: the Case of the Colorado River Basin
  June, 2008
  Western Agricultural Economics Association, Big Sky, Montana
• Climate Change and Colorado River Basin Reservior Storage
  June, 2007
  The United States Society for Ecological Economics Conference, New York City, New York
• Cultural Centers and the Location of New Single-Family Residences
  April, 2007
  Northeast Recreation Research Symposium, Bolton Landing, New York
• Hurricane Katrina and Siena College
  November, 2005
  Conference of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson River Colleges and Universities, Troy, New York
• Optimal Reservoir Storage and Climate Change
  July, 2005
  Universities Council on Water Resources Conference and National Institutes for Water Resources Joint Conference, Portland, Maine
• Reservoir Sizing to Optimize Economic Utility
  July, 2005
  Universities Council on Water Resources Conference and National Institutes for Water Resources Joint Conference, Portland, Maine
• Interstate Marketing and Similar Approaches
  June, 2005
  Natural Resources Law Center Conference, Boulder, Colorado
• Estimating Regional Energy and Natural Resource Flows
  August, 2004
  American Agricultural Economics Association, Denver, Colorado
• Economic Impacts of Alternative Policy Responses to Prolonged and Severe Drought in the Upper Rio Grande Basin
  July, 2004
  Universities Council on Water Resources Conference and National Institutes for Water Resources Joint Conference, Portland, Oregon
• Water Demand, Risk, and Optimal Reservoir Storage
  July, 2004
  Universities Council on Water Resources Conference and National Institutes for Water Resources Joint Conference, Portland, Oregon
• Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and a Border Region: A Critical Analysis
  June, 2004
  International Society for Ecological Economics, Montreal, Canada
• Addressing Bottlenecks in a Transboundary River Basin: Institutions and the Rio Grande
  November, 2001
  American Water Resources Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico