Paul J. Ferraro is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Human Behavior and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University. Professor Ferraro has a joint faculty appointment in the Carey Business School and the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, a joint department of the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Whiting School of Engineering. Ferraro’s research focuses on building a credible evidence base about the environmental and social impacts of public and private programs. Combining the approaches of epidemiologists, with their naturally occurring data, and clinical trial health scientists, with their randomized controlled trials, Ferraro seeks to identify the causal links between the actions we take to improve our world and the impacts of those actions. He also has broad interests in environmental science, behavioral science, and causal inference. Because these research areas are multi-disciplinary and applied, he collaborates with scientists and engineers from a variety of social, natural and physical science disciplines, as well as practitioners in the field.
Education
- PhD, Applied Economics, Cornell University, 2001
- MS, Environmental Economics, Duke University, 1994
- BA, Biology and History, Duke University, 1990
Research
Selected Publications
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- Brandon, A, Ferraro, PJ, J List, R Metcalfe. M Price, F Rundhammer. 2026. Do the Effects of Social Nudges Persist? Theory and evidence from 38 natural field experiments. Review of Economic Studies, rdag012.
- Correia, H, L Dee, J Byrnes, J Fieberg, M-J Fortin, C Glymour, J Runge, B Shipley, I Shpitser, K Siegel, G Sugihara, B von Holle, PJ Ferraro [corr]. 2026. Best Practices for Moving from Correlation to Causation in Ecological Research. Nature Communications. 39.
- Booth, H, T Pienkowski, MS Ramdlan, KB Neira, Muhsin, EJ Milner-Gulland, L Adrianto, PJ Ferraro [corr]. 2025. Conservation Impacts and Hidden Actions in a Randomized Trial of a Marine Pay-to-release Program. Science Advances.
- Ferraro, PJ, T Cherry et al. 2023. Create a Culture of Experiments in Environmental Programs. Science 381(6659): 735-737.
- Ferraro, PJ, K Messer, P Shukla, C Weigel. 2022. Behavioral Biases among Producers: Experimental evidence of anchoring in procurement auctions. The Review of Economics & Statistics
- Ferraro, PJ, Agrawal, A. Synthesizing Evidence in Sustainability Science Through Harmonized Experiments: Community monitoring in common pool resources. 2021. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Ferraro, PJ, R Simorangkir. Conditional Cash Transfers to Alleviate Poverty also Reduced Deforestation in Indonesia. 2020. Science Advances Infographic
- Ferraro, PJ, J Sanchirico, M Smith. 2019. Causal Inference in Coupled Natural Human Systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Working Papers
- Ferraro, PJ, J Shimshack. The Effect of Compliance Assistance on Regulatory Compliance and Pollution Discharges. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
- Caruana, A, J Bull, PJ Ferraro, H Wauchope, A Christie, J. Jones. Still Money for Nothing? Two decades of empirical evaluation of conservation investments.
- Feldman, P, PJ Ferraro. "Certain reversals: theory and experiment"
Teaching
Current
- Designing Experiments
Honors and Distinctions
- Fellow, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2024
- National Association of Conservation Districts 2021 Friend of Conservation Award–Honorable Mention for CBEAR
- Web of Knowledge Highly Cited Researcher, 2018, 2019–top 1% of scholars by citations in field
- National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center Distinguished Scholar-Lecturer, 2017
- Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow, 2016
- Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Sustainability Studies, University of Cambridge, 2015-2016
- Provost’s Faculty Fellow Award, 2013
- National Academy of Sciences Cozzarelli Prize, 2012
- Fulbright Scholar, 2011-2012
- Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award, 2010
- World Wildlife Fund Senior Science Fellow and Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature Fund Visiting Scientist, 2007-2010
Impact and Engagement
Policy
- Scientific Advisor, Symbiosis Coalition, Technical Advisory Board, 2025-present
- Academic Advisor, Innovations for Poverty Action, Climate and Environment Program, 2023-present
- Commissioner, State Children's Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council to Maryland’s General Assembly, 2021- 2026
- US Department of Agriculture Visiting Scholar, 2019-2020
In the Media
- Test and Adapt: speeding up climate change adaptation is a tall order. 2019. Nature Research
- A Better Way to Fight Climate Change. 2019. Op-Ed, Bloomberg View
- Start Preparing for the Next Hurricane Harvey. 2017. Op-Ed, Bloomberg View
- America isn’t that Divided on the Environment. 2017. Op-Ed, Bloomberg View
- The Free Market Case for Climate Science. 2016. Op-Ed, Bloomberg View
- Paying fishers to release sharks could backfire. 2025. Science