Informed by stakeholder engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration, my research blends theoretical and empirical economic modeling to inform policy discussions on issues relevant to California’s agriculture and natural resources. My primary research field is the economics of groundwater use and management, particularly for agriculture. My research centers on evaluating policies to improve the allocation of water across users in the face of a changing climate. I also conduct some interdisciplinary work, often assessing the value of new agricultural or management practices through cost-benefit analysis.
Publications
Jaeger, William K, Ellen M. Bruno, Karen Fisher-Vanden and Thomas Harter. (2025) “The Essential but Often Misunderstood Role of Economics in Groundwater Sustainability Research.” Environmental Research Letters 20: 084046.
Bruno, Ellen M. and Nick Hagerty. (2025) “Anticipatory Effects of Regulating the Commons.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 133: 103183.
Bruno, Ellen M. and Katrina Jessoe. (2024) “Designing Water Markets for Climate Change Adaptation.” Nature Climate Change 14: 331 – 339.
Bruno, Ellen M., Katrina K. Jessoe, and W. Michael Hanemann. (2024) “The Dynamic Impacts of Pricing Groundwater.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 11.5: 1201-1227. [Coverage: The NY Times, Bloomberg]
Bruno, Ellen M., Nick Hagerty, and Arthur R. Wardle. (2023) “The Political Economy of Groundwater Management: Descriptive Evidence from California” In: Ariel Dinar and Gary Libecap, ed., American Agriculture, Water Resources, and Climate Change, National Bureau of Economic Research, University of Chicago Press, pp. 343-366.
Molly Bruce, Luke Sherman, Ellen M. Bruno, Andrew T. Fisher, and Michael Kiparsky. (2023) “Recharge Net Metering (ReNeM) is a Novel, Cost-effective Management Strategy to Incentivize Groundwater Recharge.” Nature Water 1: 855–863. [Coverage: Scientific American]
Rupiper, Amanda, Joaquim Weill, Ellen M. Bruno, Katrina Jessoe, and Frank Loge. (2022). “Untapped Potential: Leak Reduction is the Most Cost-Effective Urban Water Management Tool.” Environmental Research Letters 17.3: 4021.
Ellen M. Bruno and Katrina Jessoe. (2021). “Using Price Elasticities of Water Demand to Inform Policy.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 13.9: 1-15.
Ellen M. Bruno and Katrina Jessoe. (2021). “Missing Markets: Evidence on Agricultural Water Demand from Volumetric Pricing.” Journal of Public Economics 196: 104374.
Mishra, Ashok, Ellen M. Bruno, and David Zilberman. (2020). “Compound Natural and Human Disasters: Managing Drought and COVID-19 to Sustain Global Agriculture and Food Sectors.” Science of the Total Environment 754: 142210.
Ellen M. Bruno and Richard J. Sexton. (2020). “The Gains from Agricultural Groundwater Trade and the Potential for Market Power: Theory and Application” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 102.3: 884-910.
Alyssa J. DeVincentis, Sam Sandoval Solis, Ellen M. Bruno, Amber Leavitt, Anna Gomes, Sloane Rice, and Daniele Zaccaria. (2020). “Using Cost-Benefit Analysis to Understand Adoption of Winter Cover Cropping in California’s Specialty Crop Systems.” Journal of Environmental Management 261: 110025.
Tina L. Saitone and Ellen M. Bruno. (2020). “Cost Effectiveness of Livestock Guardian Dogs for Predator Control.” Wildlife Society Bulletin 44.1: 101-109.
Working Papers
“External Costs of Climate Adaptation: Groundwater Depletion and Drinking Water” with Jeffrey Hadachek, Nick Hagerty, and Katrina Jessoe.
Grants
2022 National Science Foundation DISES: “Decentralized Management of Integrated Water Resources: Understanding Cross-scale Decision Feedbacks to Support Coordinated Sustainability” (With J. Herman, Lead PI)
2022 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR: “A Knowledge-to-Implementation Framework for Enhanced Aquifer Recharge” (with M. Kiparsky, Lead PI)
2022 CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant: “Assessing the Potential of Regenerative Agriculture to Support Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration” (with C. Lazcano, Lead PI)
2021 Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) New Innovator Award: “Advancing Water Policy for Agricultural Sustainability”
2021 USDA NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems: “Securing a Climate Resilient Water Future for Agriculture and Ecosystems through Innovation in Measurement, Management, and Markets” (with J. Viers, Lead PI)
2020 Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics: “Assessing Measurement Error in Remotely Sensed Land Use Data for Economic Applications”
2020 National Science Foundation RAPID: “Compounding Human and Natural Disasters: Implications for the Agricultural Sector” (With David Zilberman and Ashok Mishra)
2018 California Institute for Water Resources and U.S. Geological Survey: “Groundwater Regulation and Land Fallowing: How Does Water Scarcity Impact Land Use?”
2018 California Water Resources Control Board: “Life Cycle Cost and Economic Analysis for Water Loss Performance Standards” (with K. Jessoe and F. Loge)
2018 Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics: “The Economics of Groundwater Quality in California Agriculture”
2017 – 2018 UC Water Challenge: “Sustainable Groundwater in California: Managing Water Use with Economic Instruments” (with Katrina K. Jessoe, Richard J. Sexton, and W. Michael Hanemann)
2014 – 2016 National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education & Research Traineeship in Climate Change, Water, and Society
Awards
2020 Award for Most Downloaded Article in the 2019-2020 Volume of ARE Update
2019 Award for Most Downloaded Article in the 2018-2019 Volume of ARE Update
2019 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association
2019 Gordon A. King Award for Best Dissertation, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis
2017 Award for Most Downloads of an Article in the 2016-2017 Volume of ARE Update
2017 Outstanding Graduate Paper Award, Western Agricultural Economics Association
2013 Joel Dean Award for Excellence in Management Science, UC San Diego
Ellen Bruno 