Braeton is an Economist in Argonne’s Decision & Infrastructure Sciences Division. His research focusses on critical material supply chains, economic consequence analysis, and quantifying the economic benefits of infrastructure resilience. 

Education

• Ph.D., Mineral and Energy Economics, Colorado School of Mines, 2018
• M.S., Mineral and Energy Economics, Colorado School of Mines, 2014
• M.S., Applied Economics, Oregon State University, 2012
• B.A., Economics, University of New Mexico, 2009

Journal Articles

• Riddle, Matthew E., Eric Tatara, Charles Olson, Braeton J. Smith, Allison Bennett Irion, Braden Harker, David Pineault, Elisa Alonso, and Diane J. Graziano (2021), ​“Agent-based modeling of supply disruptions in the global rare earths market.” Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 164, 105193. 
• Smith, Braeton J. and Roderick G. Eggert (2018), ​“Costs, substitution, and material use: The case of rare earth magnets.” Environmental Science & Technology, 52(6), 3803-3811.
• Imholte, Devin D., Ruby T. Nguyen, Aditya Vedantam, Maxwell L. Brown, Ananth Iyer, Braeton J. Smith, John Collins, Corby G. Anderson, and Brock OKelley (2018), ​“An assessment of U.S rare earth availability for supporting U.S. wind energy growth targets.” Energy Policy, Vol. 113, 294-305.
• Smith, Braeton J. and Roderick G. Eggert (2016), ​“Multifaceted Material Substitution: The Case of NdFeB Magnets, 2010-2015.” JOM: The Journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 68, 1964-1971.

Selected Argonne reports and other publications

• Smith, Braeton, Matthew Riddle, Amanda Wagner, Lesley Edgemon, Carmella Burdi, and Iain Hyde (2021), ​“County Economic Impact Index: Measuring the ongoing economic effects of COVID-19.” Argonne National Laboratory, ANL/DIS-21/7.
• Riddle, Matthew, Braeton Smith, Amanda Wagner, Amanda Savitt, and Iain Hyde (2021), ​“State Government Revenue Vulnerability Index and Local Government Revenue Vulnerability  Index.” Argonne National Laboratory, ANL/DIS-21/8. 
• Alexander, M. Ross, Iain Hyde, Carmella Burdi, Braeton Smith, Joshua Bergerson, Matthew  Riddle, Carol Freeman and et al. (2021), ​“Internet Access Index: Measuring the availability and household adoption of high-speed internet.” Argonne National Laboratory, ANL/DIS-21/9.