CAMBRIDGE, MA – The Harvard Environmental Economics Program has, for the eleventh consecutive year, awarded three prizes to Harvard University students for the best research papers addressing a topic in environmental, energy, or natural-resource economics – one prize each for an undergraduate paper or senior thesis, master’s student paper, and doctoral student paper. Each prize was accompanied by a monetary award. The Harvard Environmental Economics Program (HEEP) is a University-wide initiative based in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government that seeks to develop innovative answers to today’s complex environmental challenges.
Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) noted, “The papers submitted this year were of very high quality, addressing a number of important topics in environmental and natural-resource economics. We are delighted that students across Harvard University participated in this year’s HEEP paper competition, which we hope will serve to encourage further student engagement on this set of issues in the future.”
The Winners are:
The Ana Aguado Prize for the best paper by a doctoral student:
The Prize is shared this year between:
Eleanor Krause, candidate for the Ph.D. in Public Policy. “Job Displacement and Migration: Evidence from Recent Shocks to the Coal Industry.” Paper prepared for a graduate course in labor economics taught by Amanda Pallais, Professor of Economics, Harvard University.
Ethan Raker, candidate for the Ph.D. in Sociology. “Natural Hazards, Disasters, and Demographic Change: The Case of Severe Tornadoes in the United States, 1980 – 2010.” Published in Demography, Volume 57, pp. 653 – 674, March 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-020-00862-y. Ph.D. committee chair: Mary Waters, PVK Professor of Arts and Sciences and John L. Loeb Professor of Sociology, Harvard University.
The Mossavar-Rahmani Center Prize for the Best Paper by a Master’s Student
The Prize is shared this year between:
Sophie Gardiner and Sujoy Bhattacharyya, “Where There’s a WUA, There’s a Way: Using Impact Evaluations of an Irrigation Program in West Bengal to Improve Support for Farmers.” Second Year Policy Analysis (“SYPA,” Master in Public Administration in International Development capstone project). SYPA Advisor: Jie Bai, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, HKS. SYPA section leader: Michael Walton, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS.
Karlygash Zhunussova, “What is the Impact of Carbon Taxation on Industries and how to Mitigate it?” Second Year Policy Analysis (“SYPA,” Master in Public Administration in International Development capstone project). SYPA Advisor: Joseph Aldy, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy, HKS. SYPA section leader: Michael Walton, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS.
The Enel Endowment Prize for the Best Senior Thesis or Undergraduate Paper
The Prize is shared this year between:
Sophia Campbell, “Opportunity is in the Air: The Impact of Childhood Exposure to Air Pollution on Long-Term Socioeconomic Outcomes.” Senior Thesis submitted for the Concentration in Economics. Thesis Advisor: David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University. Senior Thesis Seminar instructor: Judd Cramer, Lecturer in Economics, Harvard University.
Louis Delano, “Are Solar Incentives Effective? Shedding Light on Demand for Residential Photovoltaics.” Senior Thesis submitted for the Concentration in Economics. Thesis Advisor: James Stock, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University. Senior Thesis Seminar instructor: Jeffrey Miron, Senior Lecturer on Economics, Harvard University.
Further information about the prize-winners:
Sujoy Bhattacharyya will receive his Master in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School in May 2020. He has, since July 2019, been a visiting researcher on water resources and irrigation with the government of the state of West Bengal, India. From September 2015 through June 2018 he held various positions in Evidence for Policy Design at Harvard Kennedy School, a program dedicated to rigorous field-based empirical research in the service of economic development. Sujoy received a double bachelor’s degree in Economics and Physics from Oberlin College in 2015.
Sophia Campbell will receive her A.B. in Economics from Harvard College in May 2020. She studied at the University of Cambridge in summer 2018. Sophia has interned at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.; Opportunity Insights, focusing on programs for economically disadvantaged children; and the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. At Harvard, Sophia was President of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and Music Director for the Radcliffe Pitches, an a capella group.
Louis Delano will receive his A.B. in Economics from Harvard College in May 2020. He worked during summers for several financial and consulting firms: Boston Consulting Group (2019), MassVentures (2018), G2 Capital Advisors (2017), and Momentum Equity Partners (2014 and 2015). While at Harvard, Louis held leadership positions in the Harvard College Consulting Group and the Harvard Rugby Football Club.
Sophie Gardiner will receive her Master in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School in May 2020. Prior to her Master’s degree, she held various positions focused on improving the impact of health and education services in South America and sub-Saharan Africa, first as an analyst at The Brookings Institution (December 2014 – January 2017), and later as a consultant with Instiglio (January 2017 – June 2018) and Dalberg Advisors (summer 2019). She received her B.A. in International Politics and Economics, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Middlebury College in 2013.
Eleanor Krause is a candidate for the Ph.D. in Public Policy, a program based in Harvard Kennedy School, with a disciplinary focus on economics. Her research considers the intersection of economic and environmental policy, focusing on the distributional implications of environmental issues and policies across income groups and geographies. Drawing from labor economics, public economics, and the tools of applied microeconomics, Eleanor’s research helps inform how policy might address environmental market failures in ways that also promote economic mobility. She received a B.S. in Environmental Studies (summa cum laude) and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington.
Ethan Raker is a candidate for the Ph.D. in Sociology at Harvard University. His research interests include socio-spatial inequalities, environment, health, and population. Prior to his doctoral studies, Ethan held a post-baccalaureate fellowship at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. At Harvard, he is a graduate affiliate at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and a Malcolm H. Wiener Ph.D. Scholar in Poverty and Justice at the Harvard Kennedy School. Ethan received his B.A. in sociology from Columbia University and studied sociology at the University of Cambridge.
Karlygash Zhunussova will receive her Master in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School in May 2020. She was an analyst in the World Bank’s Climate Change Group in summer 2019, focusing on interactions between the informal sector and tax systems. Karlygash was an analyst with think tanks in Astana, Kazakhstan (September 2016 - August 2018) working on various projects with the Government of Kazakhstan. Earlier, she worked with KazMunayGas National Company. Karlygash received her bachelor’s degree in economics and business from L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Astana in 2015.
About the sponsors and the prizes:
The Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics at Harvard University was established in February 2007 through a generous capital gift from Enel, a multinational energy company and one of the world’s leading integrated electricity and gas operators.
HEEP is based in the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. The Center’s mission is to advance the state of knowledge and policy analysis concerning some of society’s most challenging problems at the interface of the public and private sectors.
Ana Aguado, for whom the doctoral prize is named, was a leader in European energy policy and business communities for twenty years, before passing away in October 2016. She was Secretary General of the European Distribution System Operators’ Association for Smart Grids from 2014 to 2016. Before holding that post, Ms. Aguado was Chief Executive Officer of Friends of the Supergrid, dedicated to building an integrated power grid in Europe.
For more information, please contact Casey Billings, HEEP Program Coordinator: