DC Bulletin

reflections and research on public policy

Ben Watkins

Interested in public policy evaluation: disaster risk management, ethical foundations of public choice, applications of artificial intelligence to public choice. Focus on poverty reduction, public health and nutrition interventions.

Current Research

The Economics of Integrated Early Warning Systems (with Margaux Vinez) Explores the implications of response integration for optimising investments in EWS.

Controversy and the Limits of Algorithmic Public Choice. I identify the conditions under which a public choice is controversial, and show that under these conditions, any algorithmic choice is likely to be undemocratic.

What Do COVID-19 Responses Tell Us About the Shadow Price of Liberty? Illustrates a new method for understanding the value policy-makers place on civil liberties.

Economic Rights and Minimum Standards of Well-being: Overcoming the Ratification without Commitment Impasse. Examines why some human rights do not appear to be taken seriously.

Data Collection and Analysis in Conflict Settings. How can we optimise field research design and make the most of available data in very high risk environments?

Short Bio

  • Adjunct Professor, Tulane University (2022 – present)
  • PhD Open University, Economics and Philosophy (2021 – 2024)
  • Co-Founder and CEO of Kimetrica LLC, a company developing software and providing research services for disaster risk management and project evaluation, (2006 – 2021)
  • Senior Advisor, UN World Food Programme, Kenya (2001 – 2006)
  • MSc and BA, Trinity College, Oxford University

Select Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=6yIda7MAAAAJ

  • Shalean M. Collins, Nancy Mock, M. Pia Chaparro, Donald Rose, Benjamin Watkins, Amber Wutich, Sera L. Young(2024). Toward a More Systematic Understanding of Water Insecurity Coping Strategies: Insights from Eleven Global Sites, BMJ Global Health; 2024;9: e013754.
  • Ben Watkins, Lameck Odallo, Jenny Yu (2023). Artificial Intelligence for the Practical Assessment of Nutritional Status in Emergencies, Expert Systems, submitted.
  • Theresa Falkendal, Christian Otto, Jacob Schewe, Jonas Jägermeyr, Megan Konar, Matti Kummu, Ben Watkins and Michael J. Puma (2021). Grain Trade Restrictions, Precautionary Purchasing and Local Food Insecurity During COVID-19, Nature Food Vol. 2, January 2021: 11-14
  • Marie-Ève Rancourt, Jean-François Cordeau, Gilbert Laporte, Ben Watkins (2015). Tactical network planning for food aid distribution in Kenya, Computers & Operations Research; 56:68-83
  • Lisa Jordan, Ben Watkins, Patrick Biegon, Margaret Mwangi, Rob Rose (2010). Practical Approaches to Spatial Estimation of Disaster-Affected Populations, IJAGR; 1:31-48
  • Dan Maxwell and Ben Watkins (2003). Humanitarian Information Systems and Emergencies in the Greater Horn of Africa: Logical Components and Logical Linkages, Disasters 27:1, 72-90
  • Ben Watkins and Michael Fleischer (2002). Tracking Pastoral Migration: Lessons from the Ethiopian Somali National Regional State, Human Organisation 61:4, 328-338