He is a labor and health economist whose research focuses on the poverty effects of minimum wages, the economics of health behaviors, and the social costs of the Global War on Terrorism. Sabia has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the New York City Council on minimum wage policy. His scholarship has appeared in such peer-reviewed economics and public policy journals as the Journal of Human Resources, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, the Journal of Health Economics, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, and the Southern Economic Journal. Prior to his appointment at SDSU, Sabia held faculty appointments at the University of Georgia, American University, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.