Thomas Keene is a regional economist with interests in labor, health, and rural development. Thomas has research experience in many different facets of regional economics, ranging from spatial access barriers of new technologies to heterogeneous impacts of welfare programs across the rural/urban/tribal hierarchy. His long-term research interests involve using restricted-access administrative microdata to investigate an array of regional issues including the economics of rural housing and spatial healthcare disparities.

Thomas joined the AEC faculty in August 2024 after earning his dual Ph.D. in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics & Economics at Michigan State University. Prior to that, he worked as a research analyst at a consulting firm specialized in securities fraud and other legal disputes. He earned his B.A. in Economics & Music: Jazz Studies at Loyola University Chicago in 2018.

Contact me for assistance with

Regional economic development, U.S. rural broadband deployment, nutrition assistance programs, health economics, Indigenous economics

Recent publications

Keene T., Loveridge S., Mann J., Mack E. (2024). Prospects for Innovative Rural Firms in an Era of Broadband Expansion. Choices Magazine. Available Online at https://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/submitted-articles/prospects-for-innovative-rural-firms-in-an-era-of-broadband-expansion 

Mack, E. A., Loveridge, S., Keene, T., & Mann, J. (2024). A Review of the Literature About Broadband Internet Connections and Rural Development (1995-2022). International Regional Science Review, 47(3), 231-292. https://doi.org/10.1177/01600176231202457