Moon Joon Kim

Assistant Professor

Environmental Economics, Health Economics, Energy Economics, Program Evaluation, ESG

Dr. Kim currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Economics at George Mason University Korea. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from North Carolina State University. His specializations include environmental economics, health economics, energy economics, and applied microeconometrics.

His research primarily focuses on the intersections of these fields, utilizing advanced empirical microeconometric techniques to analyze the causal impact of air pollution on various outcomes such as health, renewable energy efficiency (specifically solar PV power generation), and migration decision-making. In his most recent work, Dr. Kim investigates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, emphasizing the role of environmental economics in optimizing sustainable investment strategies.

Before joining Mason Korea, Dr. Kim held positions as a Research Professor in the Graduate School of Energy and Environment (KU-KIST Green School) at Korea University and as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the International Master of Environmental Policy (iMEP) program and the Division of Social Sciences at Duke Kunshan University. Additionally, he taught economics as an adjunct faculty member at Elon University and North Carolina State University.

Current Research

Working papers

Air Pollution and Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation: Evidence from South Korea, R&R, Energy Economics

Subsidy for Water Savings During 2015 Drought in Korea. (with Ki-Dong Kwon, Yeonjae Chang, Dae-Wook Kim, Man-Keun Kim), Under review (preprint)

Enhancing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing through Environmental Economics

Associations of Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter with Respiratory Hospital Visits in South Korea. (with Ron Shadbegian and Young-Sook Eom)

Work in progress

Machine Learning Approach for Estimating the Health Effects of Air Pollution. (with Euihyun Moon)

Selected Publications

Kim, M.J. 2023. Unintended consequences of healthcare reform in South Korea: evidence from a regression discontinuity in time design. Health Research Policy and Systems, 21:60. doi:10.1186/s12961-023-00993-9

Kim, M.J. 2021. Air Pollution, Health, and Avoidance Behavior: Evidence from South Korea. Environmental and Resource Economics, 79:63–91. doi:10.1007/s10640-021-00553-1

Kim, M.J., X. Xie, and X. Zhang. 2021. How Does an Environmental Amenity Attract Voluntary Migrants? Evidence from Ambient Air Quality in China. Sustainability, 13(12):6872. doi:10.3390/su13126872

Li, B.V., M.J. Kim, W. Xu, S. Jiang, and L. Yu. 2021. Increasing Livestock Grazing, The Unintended Consequence of Community Development Funding on Giant Panda Habitat. Biological Conservation, 257:109074. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109074

Kim, M.J. 2019. The Effects of Transboundary Air Pollution from China on Ambient Air Quality in South Korea. Heliyon, 5(12):e02953. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02953

Expanded Publication List

Lee, E.J., Kim, M.J., and Lee, J.S. 2021. Policy Implications of the Clean Heating Transition: A Case Study of Shanxi. Energies, 14(24):8431. doi:10.3390/en14248431

Grants and Fellowships

Principal Investigator (PI), July-December 2023, "Unintended Consequences of Health Care Reform in South Korea: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity in Time Design," Mason Korea Faculty Research and Development Awards. KRW4,100,000(US$3,000)

Co-PI, Aug-Sep 2022, "Research on Energy Efficiency Network Evaluation and Activation," Korea Energy Economics Institute. KRW20,000,000 (US$15,000).

AERE Scholar, 2021-2022, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Co-PI, 2020, "Workshop on Agricultural Economics, Environmental Economics, and Health Economics," Duke Kunshan Environmental Research Center. US$20,000.

Co-PI, 2018-2022, “A Study of Sustainable Livestock Grazing on Giant Panda Habitats and Management Measures," Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong. HK$3,868,000 (US$495,000).

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency/Environment for Development Initiative Travel Grant for the 6th World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2018.

PI, 2017-2018, “Transboundary Air Pollution Problem in East Asia," Duke Kunshan Environmental Research Center. CNY16,000 (US$2,500).

Courses Taught

ECON 103 Contemporary Microeconomic Principles

ECON 104 Contemporary Macroeconomic Principles

ECON 296/496 Economics of Sustainable Development

ECON 335 Environmental Economics

ECON 374 Health Economics (Spring 2024)

Education

Ph.D., Economics, North Carolina State University

B.A., Economics, Yonsei University

Recent Presentations

IGC Research Showcase, Incheon 2023

Korea's Allied Economic Associations Annual Meeting, Korea University, Seoul, 2023

Korean Association for Public Administration (KAPA) Annual International Conference, Seoul 2022

Korea Environmental Economics Association (KEEA) Annual Summer Conference, Busan 2022

Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) Annual Summer Conference, Miami, FL, USA 2022

The 10th Congress of the Asian Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (AAERE), Seoul National University, Seoul, 2021

American Economic Association/Allied Social Science Associations (AEA/ASSA) Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, United States, 2020

In the Media

"한국 미세먼지 5분의 1은 중국발…초미세먼지 더하면 그 이상" YTN사이언스 (YTN Science), Jan 10, 2020.

"한국 내 '입자 큰 PM10 미세먼지' 19%는 중국발 영향" 연합뉴스 (Yonhap News Agency), Jan 9, 2020.