Learn about the dissertations of our PhD in Public Policy graduates and their job placements directly following graduation.
2023
jiahua liu (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on International Trade and Firm Growth in Developing Countries
Advisor: Gordon Hanson
Job Placement: Economist, Cornerstone Research
kristen McCormack (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays in Environmental Economics
Advisor: David Cutler
Job Placement: Economist, U.S. Treasury
dayea oh (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on Applied Microeconomics
Advisor: Will Dobbie
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University
lauren russell (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on the U.S. Criminal Legal System and Black-White Inequality
Advisor: David Deming
Job Placement: Economist, Labor Markets Section, Federal Reserve Board
Samuel stemper (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Education
Advisor: Christopher Avery
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Auckland
Amy wickett (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on Diversity
Advisor: Desmond Ang
Job Placement: to be confirmed
2022
Shweta Bhogale
Dissertation Title: Essays on Agriculture and Rural Development in Developing Countries
Advisor: Rema Hanna
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, King Climate Action Initiative, J-PAL
Kevin Carney
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development and Behavioral Economics
Advisor: Gautam Rao
Job Placement:
- Post-Doctoral Fellow (one year), Department of Economics, University of Chicago
- Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Michigan
Helen Ho
Dissertation Title: Two Essays on Legal Entanglements and One Essay on Worker Voice
Advisor: Will Dobbie
Job Placement: Research Director, People Lab, University of California, Berkeley
Stuart Iler
Dissertation Title: Essays on Shock Propagation in Economic Production Networks: Applications to U.S. Oil Price Episodes and Green Jobs
Advisor: Joseph Aldy
Job Placement: Consultant, Resources for the Future
frina Lin (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on Health Care and Inequality
Advisor: Marcella Alsan
Job Placement: to be confirmed
Grace McCormack
Dissertation Title: Three Essays in Applied Microeconomics
Advisor: David Cutler
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Southern California
José Morales-Arilla
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Political Economy of Development
Advisor: Edward Glaeser
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University
Felix Owusu (Economics track)
Dissertation Title: Policy and Inequality in the Criminal Legal System
Advisor: David Deming
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
James Reisinger
Dissertation Title: Social Spillovers in Beliefs, Preferences, and Well-being
Advisor: Michela Carlana
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Furman Center, New York University
Elizabeth Spink (economics track)
Dissertation Title: Essays on Water Utility Quality and Access
Advisor: Rema Hanna
Job Placement: Economist, Environmental Protection Agency
2021
Yazan Al-Karablieh
Dissertation Title: Essays on Corporate Taxation
Advisor: Stefanie Stantcheva
Job Placement: Economist, Economist Program, International Monetary Fund
Sebastián Bustos
Dissertation Title: Essays in International Economics, Development, and Globalization
Advisor: Ricardo Hausmann
Job Placement: Senior Fellow, Growth Lab, Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School
Holly Dykstra
Dissertation Title: Essays in Behavioral Economics
Advisor: Brigitte C. Madrian
Job Placement: Junior Professor, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz
Marie-Pascale Grimon
Dissertation Title: Essays in Labor Economics and Child Welfare
Advisor: Amanda Pallais
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University
Blake Heller
Dissertation Title: Essays on Late Investment in Human Capital
Advisor: Joshua Goodman
Job Placement:
- Assistant Professor, Hobby School of Public Affairs, University of Houston
- Post-Doctoral Fellow 2021-2022, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
Shefali Khanna
Dissertation Title: Essays in Energy and Development Economics
Advisor: Rema Hanna
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Economics and Public Policy Department, Imperial College London
Kunal Mangal
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Public Sector Recruitment in India
Advisor: Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Visiting Fellow, Azim Premji University
Niharika Singh
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics
Advisor: Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame
Daniel Stuart
Dissertation Title: Essays in Energy and Environmental Economics
Advisor: Joseph Aldy
Job Placement: Associate, Analysis Group
2020
Andrew Bacher-Hichs
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Education
Advisor: Christopher Avery
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Education Policy, Boston University
Megan Bailey
Dissertation Title: Essays in Climate Policy and Innovation
Advisor: Joseph Aldy
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, University of Calgary
Patrick Behrer
Dissertation Title: Three Essays in Environmental and Development Economics
Advisor: Rema Hanna
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University
Elijah de la Campa
Dissertation Title: Three Essays on the Provision of Local Public Goods
Advisor: Jeffrey Liebman
Job Placement: Senior Research Associate in Economics and Urban Analytics, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative
Charlie Dorison
Dissertation Title: Essays on Emotion and Decision Making
Advisor: Jennifer Lerner
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dispute Resolution Research Center, Management and Operations Department, Northwestern University
Madeleine Gelblum
Dissertation Title: Essays on Labor and Personnel Economics
Advisor: David Deming
Job Placement: Labor Market Analyst, Facebook
Guthrie Gray-Lobe
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics
Advisor: Michael Kremer
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard University
Asad Liaqat
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics and Political Economy
Advisor: Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Research Scientist, Novi Economics team, Facebook
Heidi Liu
Dissertation Title: Essays in Behavioral Economics, Gender and Employment
Advisor: Iris Bohnet
Job Placement: Sharswood Fellow, University of Pennsylvania School of Law
Sharan Mamidipudi
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics and Political Economy
Advisor: Gautam Rao
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland
Aroop Mukharji
Dissertation Title: Sea Change: McKinley, Roosevelt, and the Expansion of U.S. Foreign Policy 1897-1909
Advisor: Fredrik Logevall
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Christine Mulhern
Dissertation Title: Personalized Information and College Choices: The Role of School Counselors, Technology, and Siblings
Advisor: Christopher Avery
Job Placement: Associate Policy Research, RAND
Kevin Rowe
Dissertation Title: Essays in Energy and Development Economics
Advisor: Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Applied Scientist, Uber
Rebecca Sachs
Dissertation Title: Essays on Health Care Markets and the Safety Net
Advisor: David Cutler
Job Placement: Analyst, Health Studies Unit, Congressional Budget Office
Chris Umphres
Dissertation Title: Essays on Judgement and Decision Making
Advisor: Jennifer Lerner
Job Placement: United States Air Force
2019
Bradley DeWees
Dissertation Title: Essays on Judgment and Decision Making
Advisors: Jennifer Lerner, Julia Minson
Job Placement: Assistant Director of Operations, United States Air Force
Abraham Holland
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics
Advisors: Edward Glaeser, Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Research Staff Member, Institute for Defense Analyses
Ariella Kahn-Lang
Dissertation Title: Essays in Labor Market Inequality
Advisors: Christopher Avery, Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Researcher, Human Services, Mathematica
Jennifer Kao
Dissertation Title: Essays in the Economics of Health and Innovation
Advisors: Pierre Azoulay, Amitabh Chandra, David Cutler
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Strategy Unit, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Stephanie Majerowicz
Dissertation Title: Essays in Education and Development Economics
Advisors: Asim Khwaja, Michael Kremer
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Government, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, briq Institute on Behavior & Inequality)
Emily Mower
Dissertation Title: Algorithms and Applied Econometrics in the Digital Economy
Advisors: Kris Johnson Ferreira, Joshua Goodman, Shane Greenstein
Job Placement: Senior Data Scientist, edX
Gabriel Tourek
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development and Public Economics
Advisors: Nathaniel Hendren, Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Associate, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
Daniel Velez-Lopez
Dissertation Title: Essays in Environmental Economics
Advisor: Joseph Aldy
Job Placement: Lead Analyst, Venture Fellowship Program, National Grid Partners
2018
Rohit Chandra
Dissertation Title: Adaptive State Capitalism in the Indian Coal Industry
Advisor: José A. Gómez-Ibáñez
Juan Pablo Chauvin
Dissertation Title: Essays in Urban Economics and Development
Advisor: Edward Glaeser
Job Placement: Research Economist, Inter-American Development Bank
Cuicui Chen
Dissertation Title: Essays on Environmental Economics and Industrial Organization
Advisors: Joseph Aldy, Ariél Pakes
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, State University of New York at Albany
Stephen Coussens
Dissertation Title: Essays in Health and Behavioral Economics
Advisors: David Cutler, Brigitte Madrian
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Raissa Fabregas
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics and Education
Advisors: Michael Kremer, Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Todd Gerarden
Dissertation Title: Essays in Environmental Economics and Industrial Organization
Advisors: Ariél Pakes, Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
Sarika Gupta
Dissertation Title: Essays in Development Economics and Governance
Advisor: Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Young Professionals Program, The World Bank
Alicia Harley
Dissertation Title: Why Does Technology Fail to Benefit the Poorest Farmers? A Sociotechnical Approach to the Study of Innovation and Poverty
Advisor: William Clark
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Sustainability Science Program, Harvard Kennedy School
Janhavi Nilekani
Dissertation Title: Essays at the Intersection of Environmental and Development Economics
Advisors: Rema Hanna, Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Founder, Aastar
Lisa Xu
Dissertation Title: Essays on Structural Transformation and Trade
Advisors: Melissa Dell, Martin Rotemberg
Job Placement: Harvard Graduate Students Union, United Auto Workers
2017
Martin Abel
Dissertation Title: Essays on Labor Markets in Developing Countries
Advisors: Rema Hanna, Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Middlebury College
Jonathan Baker
Dissertation Title: Essays in Water Conservation and Water Quality Programs
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Economist, Analysis Group
Tomoko Harigaya
Dissertation Title: Delivering Financial Services to the Poor: Constraints on Access, Take-up, and Usage
Advisor: Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Research Associate, Precision Agriculture for Development
Laura Quinby
Dissertation Title: Compensation and Employment Policies in the U.S. Public Sector
Advisor: Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Research Economist, Center for Retirement Research, Boston College
Yeling Tan
Dissertation Title: State Strategies Under Global Rules: Chinese Industrial Policy in the WTO Era
Advisor: Peter A. Hall
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon
2016
Samura Atallah
Dissertation Title: Studies in Labor Economics, Organizational Economics, and Development
Advisor: Ellen J. Langer
Job Placement: Associate, McKinsey & Company
Tara Grillos
Dissertation Title: Participation, Power, and Preferences in International Development
Advisor: William Clark
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Nils Hägerdal
Dissertation Title: Ethnic Cleansing as Military Strategy: Lessons From Lebanon, 1975-1990
Advisor: Robert H. Bates
Job Placement: Junior Research Fellow, Brandeis University
Elizabeth Linos
Dissertation Title: Three Essays on Human Capital in the Public Sector
Advisor: Jeffrey Liebman
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Sara Nadel
Dissertation Title: Essays in Optimizing Social Policy for Different Populations: Education, Targeting, and Impact Evaluation
Advisor: Lant Pritchett
Job Placement: Founder and CEO, StellarEmploy
Yusuf Neggers
Dissertation Title: Essays in Economic Development and Political Economy
Advisor: Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Watson Post-Doctoral Fellow, Brown University
Oyebola Okunogbe
Dissertation Title: Essays in Political Economy and Development
Advisor: Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Economist, Development Research Group, The World Bank
Trisha Shrum
Dissertation Title: Behavioral and Experimental Insights on Consumer Decisions and the Environment
Advisors: Joseph Aldy, David Laibson
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Earth Lab, University of Colorado
Samuel Stolper
Dissertation Title: Oil and Water: Essays on the Economics of Natural Resource Usage
Advisors: Joseph Aldy, Robert Stavins
Job Placement:
- Fall 2016 > Post-Doctoral Fellow, Energy Initiative, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Fall 2017 > Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
2015
Maria Cecilia Acevedo
Dissertation Title: Essays in the Political Economy of Conflict and Development
Advisors: Rohini Pande, James Robinson
Job Placement: Consultant, Poverty Global Practice Division, The World Bank
Natalie Bau
Dissertation Title: Essays at the Intersection of Development and Education
Advisors: Asim Khwaja, Nathan Nunn
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toronto
Syon Bhanot
Dissertation Title: Field Experiments in Behavioral and Public Economics
Advisors: Brigitte Madrian, Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Swarthmore College
Gabriel Chan
Dissertation Title: Essays on Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Advisors: William Clark, Laura Díaz Anadón
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Science, Technology and Policy, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
Sarah Cohodes
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Education
Advisor: Christopher Avery
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis, Teachers College, Columbia University
A. Nilesh Fernando
Dissertation Title: Land, Labor and Technology: Essays in Development Economics
Advisors: Lawrence Katz, Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame (Post-Doc at Harvard University)
Daniel Honig
Dissertation Title: Navigating by Judgment: Organizational Structure, Autonomy, and Country Context in Delivering Foreign Aid
Advisor: Peter A. Hall
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Mahnaz Islam
Dissertation Title: Essays on Development Economics
Advisors: Rema Hanna, Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Economist, Amazon
joo Julia A. lee
Dissertation Title: Essays in Organizational Behavior
Advisor: Francesca Gino
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Institutional Corruption Program, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University
Andry Liscovich
Dissertation Title: Essays in Experimental and Labor Economics
Advisor: Nicholas A. Christakis
Job Placement: Director of Technology, RA Capital Management
Richard Sweeney
Dissertation Title: Essays on Industry Response to Energy and Environmental Policy
Advisors: Ariél Pakes, Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Boston College
Elizabeth Walker
Dissertation Title: Essays at the Intersection of Environment and Development Economics
Advisor: Rema Hanna
Job Placement: Consultant, Energy, Environment, and Network Industries Practice, NERA Economic Consulting
2014
Dany Bahar
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Transmission and Diffusion of Productive Knowledge in International Economics
Advisor: Elhanan Helpman
Job Placement: Senior Associate Economist, Inter-American Development Bank
Ariel Dora Stern
Dissertation Title: Essays in the Economics of Health Care and the Regulation of Medical Technology
Advisor: Amitabh Chandra
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Technology and Operations Management Unit, Harvard Business School
Alexandra van Geen
Dissertation Title: Essays in Experimental Economics and the Improvement of Judgment and Decision Making
Advisor: Iris Bohnet
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Finance, Erasmus School of Economics
Clara Monika Zverina
Dissertation Title: Essays in Public and Labor Economics
Advisor: Jeffrey Liebman
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow in Disability Research, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
2013
Will Dobbie
Dissertation Title: Essays in Labor Economics
Advisor: Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Department of Economics, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
Jeffrey Friedman
Dissertation Title: Cumulative Dynamics and Strategic Assessment: U.S. Military Decision Making in Iraq, Vietnam, and the American Indian Wars
Advisor: Stephen Walt
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow in International Security and U.S. Foreign Policy, John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College
Marie E. Newhouse
Dissertation Title: Kant's Typo, and the Limits of Law
Advisor: Arthur Applbaum
Job Placement: Residential Lab Fellow, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard Law School
Olga Rostapshova
Dissertation Title: Pushing a Troika of Development: Promoting Investment, Curbing Corruption, and Enhancing Public Good Provision
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Specialist, Social Impact, Social Science Genetics Association Consortium, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Senior Evaluations
Laurence Tai
Dissertation Title: Hierarchical Game-Theoretic Models of Transparency in the Administrative State
Advisor: Daniel Carpenter
Job Placement: Residential Lab Fellow, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard Law School
2012
Christopher Carrigan
Dissertation Title: Structured to Fail? Explaining Regulatory Performance Under Completing Mandates
Advisor: Daniel Carpenter
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, George Washington University
Souman Hong
Dissertation Title: Online Institutions, Markets, and Democracy
Advisor: Matthew Baum
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Yonsei University
Avinash Kishore
Dissertation Title: Essays on Economics of Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution in India
Advisor: Dale Jorgenson
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), New Delhi, India
Robyn Meeks
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Household Water Access in Developing Countries
Advisor: Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
Karl Neumar
Dissertation Title: Essays on Optimal Management of Portfolios
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement:, Founding Partner, HNC Advisors
Philip Osafo-Kwaako
Dissertation Title: Essays in Economic History and Development
Advisor: James Robinson
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard
Matthew Ransom
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Climate Change
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Senior Analyst, Health and Environment Division, Abt Associates
Christopher Robert
Dissertation Title: Wealth, Welfare, and Well-being: Essays in Indebtedness and Normative Analysis
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: President and CEO, Dobility; Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
William Skimmyhorn
Dissertation Title: Essays in Behavioral Household Finance
Advisor: Brigitte Madrian
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, United States Military Academy (West Point)
Maoliang Ye
Dissertation Title: Gradualism in Coordination and Trust Building
Advisors: Raj Chetty, Brigitte Madrian
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Remin University of China
Tristan Zajonc
Dissertation Title: Essays on Causal Inference for Public Policy
Advisor: Guido Imbens
Job Placement: Visiting Fellow, Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard; Co-founder and CEO, Sense, Inc.
2011
Ina Ganguli
Dissertation Title: Labor Markets in Transition: Science and Migration After the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Advisor: Richard B. Freeman
Job Placement:
- 2011–2012 > Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard Business School, Harvard Medical School
- 2012 > Assistant Professor, Stockholm School of Economics
John Horton
Dissertation Title: Online Labor Markets
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Economist, Odesk
Victoria Levin
Dissertation Title: Choices and Consequences: Decisions on Health, Wealth, and Employment
Advisor: Brigitte Madrian
Job Placement: Economist, The World Bank
Suerie Moon
Dissertation Title: Embedding Neoliberalism: Global Health and the Evolution of the Global Intellectual Property Regime (1995-2009)
Advisor: John Ruggie
Job Placement: Non-academic offers—undecided
Gary Reinbold
Dissertation Title: Essays on Child Mortality and Growth Faltering in Bangladesh and Kenya
Advisor: Mary Jo Bane
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Illinois Springfield
Abigail Fisher Williamson
Dissertation Title: Beyond the Passage of Time: Local Government Response in New Immigrant Destinations
Advisor: Robert D. Putnam
Job Placement: Preceptor, Harvard College Writing Program
Andrés Zahler
Dissertation Title: Essays on Export Dynamics
Advisor: Ricardo Hausmann
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Public Policy Institute, Diego Portales University
2010
Mohamad Al-Ississ
Dissertation Title: The Role of Beliefs in Financial Markets: Three Essays on Violence, Trust and Religion
Advisor: Iris Bohnet
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, University of Cairo, Joint appointment with Business School and School of Global Affairs
Sharon Barnhardt
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Impact of Residential Location on Networks, Attitudes and Cooperation: Experimental Evidence from India
Advisor: Rohini Pande
Job Placement: Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai, India
David Deming
Dissertation Title: Long-Term Impacts of Educational Interventions
Advisor: Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Heinz School of Public Health, Carnegie Mellon University
Brooke Kelsey Jack
Dissertation Title: Essays on Developing Country Markets in Environment and Health
Advisor: Christopher Avery
Job Placement:
- 2010–2011 > Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2011 > Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Tufts University
David J. Lynch
Dissertation Title: Does Analogical Reasoning Affect Political Attitudes? Evidence from Survey Experiments
Advisor: Gary King
Job Placement: Consultant, RWS Advisory
Santitarn Sathirathai
Dissertation Title: Loyal Friends and Fickle Lenders: The Behavior of Financial Institutions During Financial Crises
Advisor: Asim Khwaja
Job Placement: Credit Suisse, Singapore
Thomas Wei
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Economics of Education
Advisor: Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Institute of Education Sciences, (National Center for Education Evaluation), U.S. Department of Education
2009
Hunt Allcott
Dissertation Title: Consumer Behavior and Firm Strategy in Energy Markets
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement:
- 2009–2011 > Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2011 > Assistant Professor of Economics, New York University
Jeffrey Bielicki
Dissertation Title: Integrated Systems Analysis and Technological Findings for Carbon Capture and Storage Deployment
Advisor: John Holdren
Job Placement: Weinberg Fellow, Research Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Jonathan Borck
Dissertation Title: Beyond Compliance: Three Essays on Voluntary Corporate Environmentalism
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Economist, Analysis Group, Boston
Warigia Bowman
Dissertation Title: Digital Development: Technology, Governance, and the Quest for Modernity in East Africa
Advisor: Sheila Jasanoff
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy Leadership, University of Mississippi
Jennifer Bulkeley
Dissertation Title: Perspectives on Power: Chinese Strategies to Measure and Manage China’s Rise
Advisor: Ashton Carter
Job Placement: Special Assistant for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Oeindrila Dube
Dissertation Title: Essays in the Political Economy of Conflict and Development
Advisor: Sendhil Mullainathan
Job Placement: 2009–2010 > Post-Doctoral Fellow, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Center for Global Development, New York University
Allan Friedman
Dissertation Title: Privacy, Security, and the Dynamics of Networked Information Sharing
Advisor: David Lazer
Job Placement:
- 2009–2010 > Post-Doctoral Fellowship, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Center for Research on Computation and Society, Harvard University
- 2010 > Brookings Institution
Felipe Kast
Dissertation Title: Essays on Poverty Dynamics and Social Policy
Advisor: Alberto Abadie
Job Placement: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Kira Matus
Dissertation Title: Green Chemistry: A Study of Innovation for Sustainable Development
Advisor: William Clark
Job Placement: Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, Yale University
Holly Ho Ming
Dissertation Title: Growing Up in the Urban Shadow: Realities and Dreams of Migrant Workers’ Children in Beijing and Shanghai
Advisor: Anthony Saich
Job Placement: Breakthrough, Ltd, Hong Kong, Youth Foundation, Beijing and Shanghai
Tatsuya Nishida
Dissertation Title: Incomplete Alliances: A Comparative Analysis of the Hub-and Spoke System in the Asia-Pacific
Advisor: Stephen Walt
Job Placement: Post-Doc at a Japanese university
Jason Richwine
Dissertation Title: IQ and Immigration Policy
Advisor: George Borjas
Job Placement: Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Juan Saavedra
Dissertation Title: The Role of Resources and Incentives in Education Production
Advisor: Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Public Policy, School of Government, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Judith Scott-Clayton
Dissertation Title: Understanding America's Unfinished Transformation: Three Essays on the Economics of Higher Education
Advisor: Christopher Jencks
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Sandra Sequeira
Dissertation Title: On the Waterfront: An Empirical Study of Corruption in Ports
Advisor: Sendhil Mullainathan
Job Placement:
- 2009 > Post-Doctoral Fellow, New York Law School
- 2010 > Lecturer in Development Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science
Yuhki Tajima
Dissertation Title: Order and Violence in Authoritarian Breakdowns: How Institutions Explain Communal Violence in Indonesia
Advisor: Robert H. Bates
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Riverside
Ngoc Anh Tran
Dissertation Title: Corruption, Ranking and Competition
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Indiana
Fei Yu
Dissertation Title: Three Essays in Environmental Economics
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics, Mount Holyoke College
2008
Fotini Christia
Dissertation Title: The Closest of Enemies: Alliance Formation in the Afghan and Bosnian Civil Wars
Advisor: Robert H. Bates
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kessely Corea Hong
Dissertation Title: Group Differences in Preferences, Beliefs, and Perceptions?
Advisor: Iris Bohnet
On family leave
Sebastian S. James
Dissertation Title: Essays on Tax Policy and Tax Compliance
Advisor: Caroline M. Hoxby
Job Placement: Senior Economist on Tax Policy, The World Bank
Bailey W. Klinger
Dissertation Title: Discovering New Export Activities in Developing Countries: Uncertainty, Linkages, and the Product Space
Advisor: Ricardo Hausmann
Job Placement: Director, Center for International Development (CID) Research Lab, Harvard Kennedy School
Carolyn M. Kousky
Dissertation Title: Responding to Risk: Information and Decision Making in the Floodplains of St. Louis County, Missouri
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Fellow, Resources for the Future
Elta C. Smith
Dissertation Title: Governing Rice: The Politics of Experimentation in Global Agriculture
Advisor: Sheila Jasanoff
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Environment and Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley
Nicole A. Szlezak
Dissertation Title: Global Health in the Making: China, HIV/AIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Advisor: Sheila Jasanoff
Job Placement: Consultant, McKinsey & Company
Adam T. Thomas
Dissertation Title: Forgotten Fathers: A Collection of Essays on Low-Skilled Men and Marriage
Advisor: William Julius Wilson
Job Placement: Research Director, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution
Rui Wang
Dissertation Title: Nonparametric Methods for Inference After Variable Selection, Comparisons of Survival Distributions, and Random Effects Meta-Analysis, and Reporting of Subgroup Analyses (Department of Biostatistics)
Advisor: Stephen Lagakos
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles
Blair s. Williams
Dissertation Title: Essays in Legislative Behavior
Advisor: David King
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy (West Point)
2007
Naomi Calvo
Dissertation Title: How Parents Choose Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study of Public School Choice in Seattle
Advisor: Christopher Jencks
Job Placement: Principal Associate, Education Resource Strategies
Jing Cao
Dissertation Title: Essays on Environmental Tax Policy Analysis: Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Approaches Applied to China
Advisor: Dale Jorgenson
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
Andrew Feldman
Dissertation Title: What Works in Work-First Welfare?
Advisor: Jeffrey Liebman
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School
Fiona Greig
Dissertation Title: Barriers to Advancement: Perspectives from Behavioral Economics, Negotiation and Gender Analysis
Advisor: Iris Bohnet
Job Placement: Consultant, McKinsey & Company
Wei Ha
Dissertation Title: Essays on Education Production in China and the U.S.
Advisor: Anthony Saich
Job Placement: Policy Specialist, Human Development Report Office, UN Development Programme
Beau Kilmer
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Consequences of Drug Use and Drug Testing
Advisor: Mark Moore
Job Placement: Associate Policy Researcher, RAND
Indhira Santos
Dissertation Title: Essays on Natural Disasters and Household Income
Advisor: Jeffrey Liebman
Job Placement: Research Fellow, Bruegel
Fan Zhang
Dissertation Title: Essays on Environmental, Energy, and Natural Resource Economics
Advisor: William Hogan
Job Placement: Assistant Professor in Energy Economics and Policy, Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering, Penn State University
2006
Pelin Berkmen
Dissertation Title: Essays on Monetary Policy and Debt Accumulation
Advisor: Andrés Velasco
Job Placement: Research Economist, International Monetary Fund
Eduardo Cavallo
Dissertation Title: Living as a Debtor in a World of Sudden Stops: The Roles of Exposure to Trade and Commitment
Advisor: Jeffrey Frankel
Job Placement: Research Economist, Inter-American Development Bank
Darby Jack
Dissertation Title: Household Behavior and Energy Demand: Evidence from Peru
Advisor: Mark Rosenzweig
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
Zhou Liu
Dissertation Title: The Economic Interdependence of China and the World
Advisor: Robert Lawrence
Job Placement: Private Sector Consultant
Jenny Schuetz
Dissertation Title: Land, Money and Politics: Essays on Government Intervention in Housing Markets
Advisor: José A. Gómez-Ibáñez
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University
Jong-Sung You
Dissertation Title: A Comparative Study of Income Inequality, Corruption, and Social Trust
Advisor: Robert D. Putnam
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego
2005
Chad b. steinberg
Dissertation Title: Does the Neighborhood Matter? Three Essays in International Economics
Advisor: Dani Rodrik
Job Placement: Economist, International Monetary Fund
Khuong Minh Vu
Dissertation Title: ICT and Global Economic Growth: Contribution, Impact, and Policy Implications
Advisor: Dale Jorgenson
Job Placement: Visiting Professor, Sawyer School of Management, Suffolk University
2004
Steven c. Anderson
Dissertation Title: Analyzing Strategic Interaction in Multi-Settlement Electricity Markets: A Closed-Loop Supply Function Equilibrium Model
Advisor: William Hogan
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard Electricity Policy Group
Wenhua Di
Dissertation Title: Essays in Environmental Economics and Policy
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Visiting Professor, University of Texas at Dallas
Andrew k. Leigh
Dissertation Title: Essays in Poverty and Inequality
Advisor: Christopher Jencks
Job Placement: Fellow, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
Gavin Samms
Dissertation Title: Essay in Education Policy
Advisor: Christopher Jencks
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Sheryl Winston Smith
Dissertation Title: Innovation and Globalization in Four High-Technology Industries in the United States: One Size Does Not Fit All
Advisor: Lewis Branscomb
Job Placement: Research Associate in Economics and Management, Gustavus Adolphus College
Lori d. Snyder
Dissertation Title: Essays on Facility-Level Response to Environmental Regulations
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy, Nicholas School of Environmental and Earth Sciences, Duke University
2003
Carolyn Gideon
Dissertation Title: Sustainable Competition or Inevitable Monopoly? The Potential for Competition in Network Communications Industries
Advisor: Lewis Branscomb
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of International Communications and Communications Technology, Tufts University
Gabriel Kaplan
Dissertation Title: Between Politics and Markets: The Institutional Allocation of Resources in Higher Education
Advisor: Joseph Kalt
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver
Tuan Minh Le
Dissertation Title: Analysis of Tax and Trade Incentives for Foreign Direct Investment: The Case of Vietnam
Advisor: Dwight H. Perkins
Job Placement: Public Finance Economist, The World Bank
Pierre LeBlanc
Dissertation Title: Essays on Tax-Deferred Saving in Canada
Advisor: David Wise
Job Placement: Economist, Department of Finance, Government of Canada
2002
Dorina Bekoe
Dissertation Title: After the Peace Agreement: Lessons for Implementation from Mozambique, Angola, and Liberia
Advisor: Robert H. Bates
Job Placement: Associate, International Peace Academy
Sheila Cavanagh
Dissertation Title: Essays in Environmental Economics and Policy
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
Ajay Chaudry
Dissertation Title: Child Care Arrangements Among Low-Income Families: A Qualitative Approach
Advisor: Mary Jo Bane
Job Placement: Faculty Member, The New School
Mark Kim
Dissertation Title: Money and Mission: How Non-Profit Organizations Finance Their Charitable Activities
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Public Finance Associate, UBS Paine Webber
R. Karl Rethemeyer
Dissertation Title: Centralization or Democratization: Assessing the Internet's Impact on Policy Networks
Advisor: Jane Fountain
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Public Affairs and Policy, Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Policy, State University of New York at Albany
Lisa Sanbonmatsu
Dissertation Title: Child Neglect in a Changing Economic and Social Policy Context
Advisor: Mary Jo Bane
Job Placement: Post-Doctoral Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
Andres Vinelli
Dissertation Title: The Management and Performance of Microfinance Organizations
Advisor: Mark Moore
Job Placement: Special Assistant to the Chairman, National Association of Securities Dealers
Alix Peterson Zwane
Dissertation Title: Essays in Environment and Development
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley
2001
David Cash
Dissertation Title: Integrating Information and Decision Making in a Multi-Level World: Cross-scale Environmental Science and Management
Advisor: William Clark
Job Placement: Research Associate, Sustainability Systems Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
RicHARD Doblin
Dissertation Title: Regulation of the Medical Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana
Advisor: F.M. Scherer
Job Placement: President, Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Judith Kelley
Dissertation Title: Norms and Membership Conditionality: The Role of European Institutions in Ethnic Politics in Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia and Romania
Advisor: Lisa Martin
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Duke University
Anthony Patt
Dissertation Title: Strategy and Psychology in Environmental Assessment
Advisor: William Clark
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Boston University
Sasha Pivovarsky
Dissertation Title: Essays on Institutions and Finance
Advisor: Benjamin Sachs
Job Placement: Economist, International Monetary Fund
David Skilling
Dissertation Title: Policy Coordination, Political Structure, and Public Debt: The Political Economy of Public Debt Accumulation in OECD Countries Since 1960
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Economist, New Zealand Treasury
Marcus Stanley
Dissertation Title: Essays in Program Evaluation
Advisor: Claudia Goldin
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics, Case Western Reserve University
Robert Taliercio
Dissertation Title: Administrative Reform as Credible Commitment: The Design, Sustainability, and Performance of Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authorities in Latin America
Advisor: Merilee Grindle
Job Placement: Fellow, Young Professionals Program, The World Bank
2000
Todd Olmstead
Dissertation Title: The Effects of Freeway Management Systems and Motorist Assistance Patrols on the Frequency of Reported Motor Vehicle Crashes
Advisor: José A. Gómez-Ibáñez
Job Placement: Consultant, McKinsey & Company
Gustavo Merino-Juarez
Dissertation Title: Federalism and the Policy Process: Using Basic Education as a Test-Case of Decentralization in Mexico
Advisor: John Donahue
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Carlos Rufin
Dissertation Title: The Political Economy of Institutional Change in the Electricity Supply Industry
Advisor: William Hogan
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Business Strategy, Babson College
Howard Shatz
Dissertation Title: The Location of U.S. Multinational Affiliates
Advisor: Benjamin Sachs
Job Placement: Research Fellow, Public Policy Institute of California
David Snelbecker
Dissertation Title: Pension Reform in Economies with Large Informal Sectors: The Case of the Ukraine
Advisor: William Hogan
Job Placement: Manager, The Services Group
1999
David Autor
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Changing Labor Market: Computerization, Inequality, and the Development of the Contingent Work Force
Advisor: Lawrence Katz
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alison Earle
Dissertation Title: Keeping the Job You Find: Understanding Job Turnover Among Welfare Recipients Who Obtain Work
Advisor: David Ellwood
Job Placement: Research Scientist, Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health
Karen Eggleston
Dissertation Title: Incentives in Health Care Payment Systems
Advisor: Joseph P. Newhouse
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Economics, Tufts University
Karen Fisher-Vanden
Dissertation Title: Structural Change and Technological Diffusion in Transition Economies: Implications for Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in China
Advisor: Dale Jorgenson
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College
WooChan Kim
Dissertation Title: Essays in International Capital Markets
Advisor: Wei
Job Placement: Deputy Director, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Republic of Korea
Chang-Yang Lee
Dissertation Title: A Theory of the Determinants of R&D: Consumer Characteristics and Technological Competence
Advisor: F.M. Scherer
Job Placement: Director, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea
Steven Todd Schatzki
Dissertation Title: A Theoretical and Empirical Examination of Land Use Change Under Uncertainty
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Senior Analyst, National Economic Research Associates
Stuart Orin Shapiro
Dissertation Title: Speed Bumps and Road Blocks: Procedural Controls and Regulatory Change
Advisor: Cary Coglianese
Job Placement: Policy Analyst, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
Tay Keong Tan
Dissertation Title: Silence, Sacrifice, and Shoofly Pies: An Inquiry into the Social Capital and Organizational Structures of the Amish Community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Advisor: Katherine S. Newman
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore
1998
Kathryn p. Boudett
Dissertation Title: In Search of a Second Chance: The Consequences of GED Certification, Education and Training for Young Women Without Traditional High School Diplomas
Advisor: Thomas Kane
Job Placement: Research Fellow, Harvard Project on Schooling and Children
Bryan c. Hassel
Dissertation Title: Designed to Fail? Charter School Programs and the Politics of Structural Choice
Advisor: Paul E. Peterson
Job Placement: Consultant, Private Company
Christopher e. Herbert
Dissertation Title: Limited Choices: The Effect of Residential Segregation on Homeownership Among Blacks
Advisor: Kain
Job Placement: Senior Analyst, Abt Associates
Jason c. Snipes
Dissertation Title: Skill Mismatch, Turnover, and the Development of Young Workers’ Careers
Advisor: Ronald Ferguson
Job Placement: Research Associate, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation
1997
John d. Chapman
Dissertation Title: Biased Enrollment and Risk Adjustment for Health Plans
Advisor: Joseph P. Newhouse
Job Placement: Vice President, Health Care Information Systems
Ingrid gould Ellen
Dissertation Title: Sharing America's Neighborhoods: The Changing Prospects for Stable, Racial Integration
Advisor: Richard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
Tae Yun Kim
Dissertation Title: An Analysis of Defense Procurement Policy in Korea: Selection, Cost Accounting, and Profit Policies
Advisor: F.M. Scherer
Job Placement: Government Official, Republic of Korea
Dara e. Menashi
Dissertation Title: Making Public/Private Collaboration Productive: Lessons for Creating Social Capital
Advisor: Ronald Ferguson
Job Placement: Consultant, Private Company
Richard g. Newell, Jr.
Dissertation Title: Environmental Policy and Technological Change: The Effect of Economic Incentives and Direct Regulation on Energy-Saving Innovation
Advisor: Robert Stavins
Job Placement: Fellow, Resources for the Future
Vicki Norberg-Bohm
Dissertation Title: Technological Change for Sustainable Development: Lessons from the Mexican Electric Power Sector
Advisor: William Clark
Job Placement: Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael a. Santoro
Dissertation Title: Trade Investment and Human Rights: A Moral Framework for Foreign Relations with China
Advisor: Frederick Schauer
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Management, Rutgers University