Ayoung Kim

Dr. Ayoung Kim is an Assistant Professor and applied economist at Mississippi State University's Department of Agricultural Economics. She specializes in regional economics and community development, with a focus on economic resilience, labor/population dynamics, and spatial data analytics.

Education:
• Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, Purdue University (2017)
• M.A. in Mathematics, SUNY Buffalo (2012)
• M.A. in Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University (2008)
• B.S. in Urban Planning and Engineering, Yonsei University (2005)

Her research examines regional economic structures, broadband impacts on rural communities, housing policy effects, and labor market disparities. She develops tools like the Index of Relative Rurality (IRR) for spatial analysis.

Recent work explores the gender wage gap through rural employment lenses, economic impacts of disasters, and housing market interventions using CGE models. Her publications span journals like Annals of Regional Science and Applied Economics Letters.

Scientific Award:

• Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation, Purdue University (2017)

Dr. Kim advises graduate students in economic development and spatial analysis, with former advisees pursuing Ph.D.s at Colorado State and Wisconsin-Madison. She contributes to Mississippi-focused extension work on demographic shifts and broadband adoption.