He earned a B.A. in Economics from Holy Cross in 1993, followed by an M.A. (1996) and PhD (2000) in Economics from UC Santa Barbara. He joined the faculty at SDSU in 2000, and currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Graduate Affairs for that campus. His research is focused on the valuation of public goods, natural amenities, and risks from observed behavior in markets, field experiments, and the ballot box. His work has appeared in the Journal of Urban Economics, the National Tax Journal, and Land Economics, among others publications. Balsdon served for three years as faculty in the American Economic Association (AEA) Summer Training Program, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. He is a member of the AEA.