Tom Marsh
Dr. Thomas L. Marsh is the Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Washington State University (WSU). Dr. Marsh has worked broadly in the areas of agricultural economics, natural resource economics, and econometrics; focusing on issues of consumer demand and food safety, trade, energy, and political rent seeking, as well as examining externalities in animal disease, plant health, and plastic pollution in agriculture.
Marsh grew up on a fifth-generation cattle and wheat ranch in northeast Montana. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Carroll College and master's degrees in mathematics and economics at Montana State University. He joined DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working on radionuclide spillovers into the food system and on energy economics. Marsh then earned a PhD in agricultural economics and a master's in statistics from WSU, concentrating on the economics of vector-virus-plant interactions and econometrics.
Marsh accepted a tenure track position in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University in 1998 and subsequently joined WSU's faculty in 2004. He directed the WSU IMPACT Center from 2009 to 2014. Marsh has had an active research portfolio securing over 50 grants, while supporting and chairing 30 PhD students and 14 MS students. Funding agencies for these grants include USDA, USEPA, USDHHS, and other sources. His advisees have been placed in tenure-track positions at research universities, have worn awards themselves, and many are active in AAEA.
Marsh has published more than 100 articles in highly ranked and visible journals, including in the AJAE, Energy Economics, Food Policy, Global Food Security, JARE, Nature: Ecology & Evolution, Science Advances, Advances in Econometrics, and The Lancet, along with more than 100 additional conference papers and reports. His research includes global collaborations with other social scientists, together with natural and health scientists. Marsh contributes significantly to local, national, and global policy issues, and routinely consults with organizations and governments across the world. His research has been reported by the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and numerous other media outlets. Marsh is an elected member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences (2011), fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2015), and fellow of the Western Agricultural Economics Association (2019).
Marsh gives significantly to the public good by supporting his institution and the profession. He has served the AAEA and provided leadership in many capacities and on numerous committees, including AJAE associate editor (2008–2011) and co-editor of a Choices special issue (2016). He is a founding member of, and a former chair for, both the Econometrics and Health Economics sections. Marsh was a director (2002–2004) and then president of the Western Agricultural Economics Association (2014–2015), as well as on the JARE Editorial Council (2007–2009, 2015–2017). He served two terms on the board of directors of the Washington State Academy of Sciences (2013–2019). As a faculty member, Marsh currently holds teaching and research appointments in the School of Economic Sciences (80%) and the Paul G. Allen School for Global Health (20%). He predominately teaches graduate econometrics on the Pullman campus but also mentors and teaches economic and econometric modules online to students across the world.