CAMBRIDGE, MA – The Harvard Environmental Economics Program has, for the sixth consecutive year, awarded three prizes to Harvard University students for the best research papers addressing a topic in environmental, energy, or 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.
From left to right: Ross Svenson, Professor Robert Stavins, Syon Bhanot, and Adriana Conconi. Not pictured: Jennifer Austin and Joseph Luchenta.
Photo credit: Bryan Galcik
The papers were judged by James Hammitt, Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Rema Hanna, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and HEEP Director, at the Harvard Kennedy School. All three reviewers are Faculty Fellows of HEEP. The prizes were supported by the Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics at Harvard University.
According to Robert Stavins, “We are very pleased with both the quality of the papers submitted this year and the number of students who participated. The papers exhibited an impressive understanding of environmental, energy, and natural resource policy—and of approaches to understanding these issues from the discipline of economics. We hope this competition has served to encourage student research on this set of issues.”
The Winners are:
The Enel Endowment Prize for the Best Paper by a Doctoral Student
Syon Bhanot, “Rank and Response: A Field Experiment on Peer Information and Water Use Behavior.” Ph.D. Candidate in Public Policy. Committee Chair: Richard Zeckhauser, Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School.
The Mossavar-Rahmani Center Prize for the Best Paper by a Master’s Student
The prize is shared this year between:
Jennifer Austin, “Linking Carbon Markets: Quantifying Ambition and Credibility.” Second Year Policy Analysis (or “SYPA,” Master in Public Administration/International Development capstone project). Advisor: Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School. SYPA Section Leader: Rema Hanna, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
Adriana Conconi and Joseph Luchenta, “Exploring Policy Options to Improve Catastrophic Risk Management: Using Data to Develop Alternatives to Weather Index Insurance in Mexico.” SYPA. Advisors: Shawn Cole, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Brigitte Madrian, Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management, Harvard Kennedy School. SYPA Section Leader: Rema Hanna, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
The HEEP Prize for the Best Senior Thesis or Undergraduate Paper
Ross Svenson, “Breaking the Habit: The Path to Reducing U.S. Carbon Emissions by 2050.” Paper submitted for course titled “The Climate-Energy Challenge” (Science of the Physical Universe 29). Instructor: Daniel Schrag, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology, and Director, Harvard University Center for the Environment.
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Further information about the prize-winners and sponsors:
Jennifer Austin will receive her Master in Public Administration/International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School in May 2015. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University in 2005. Ms. Austin worked for the Obama campaign in 2008 and for the Obama reelection campaign in 2011-2012. She has also done extensive work in Africa as a journalist, covering the environment, land use, science, and health; and as a field manager for the International Rescue Committee.
Syon Bhanot will receive his Ph.D. in Public Policy in May 2015. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Mr. Bhanot has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Economics at Swarthmore College, beginning in September 2015. Mr. Bhanot’s research focuses on field experiments that use behavioral concepts to influence decision making, with a focus on decisions for which individuals lack sufficient context to make an optimal choice. He was an Adjunct Lecturer at Brown University during academic year 2013-2014, where he taught econometrics and policy analysis at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions.
Adriana Conconi will receive her Master in Public Administration/International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School in May 2015. She received her Masters and Bachelors in Economics from the Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina, in 2009 and 2005 respectively. Ms. Conconi has worked for the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative as a Research Officer since 2012, focusing on international poverty.
Joseph Luchenta will receive his Master in Public Administration/International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School and Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School in May 2015. He received his Bachelor of Science in Economics, summa cum laude, from Arizona State University in 2006. The past two summers he has worked for McKinsey & Company and Abbott Laboratories. From 2006-2008, he worked as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia.
Ross Svenson will receive his Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Government in May 2015. He has worked for the Harvard College Democrats to coordinate campaign activities, phone banks, and increasing volunteer recruitment. Mr. Svenson has interned at the White House and UK Parliament. He also worked for the Harvard Political Review as the U.S. Senior Editor.
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The Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics at Harvard University was established in February 2007 through a generous capital gift from Enel SpA, a progressive Italian corporation involved in energy production worldwide.
HEEP is based in the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Center seeks 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.
Media Contact: Bryan Galcik (617) 384-8415; bryan_galcik@hks.harvard.edu