Learn about the dissertations of our PhD in Public Policy graduates and their job placements directly following graduation.

Dissertations and Job Placements of PPOL PhD Graduates

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 GlaeserRohini Pande
Job Placement: Research Staff Member, Institute for Defense Analyses

Ariella Kahn-Lang

Dissertation Title: Essays in Labor Market Inequality
Advisors: Christopher AveryLawrence Katz
Job Placement: Researcher, Human Services, Mathematica

Jennifer Kao

Dissertation Title: Essays in the Economics of Health and Innovation
Advisors: Pierre AzoulayAmitabh ChandraDavid Cutler
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Strategy Unit, UCLA Anderson School of Management

Stephanie Majerowicz

Dissertation Title: Essays in Education and Development Economics
Advisors: Asim KhwajaMichael 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 FerreiraJoshua Goodman, Shane Greenstein
Job Placement: Senior Data Scientist, edX

Gabriel Tourek

Dissertation Title: Essays in Development and Public Economics
Advisors: Nathaniel HendrenAsim 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 PakesRobert 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 HannaRohini Pande
Job Placement: Founder, Aastar

Lisa Xu

Dissertation Title: Essays on Structural Transformation and Trade
Advisors: Melissa DellMartin 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 AldyDavid 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 KhwajaNathan Nunn
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toronto

Syon Bhanot

Dissertation Title: Field Experiments in Behavioral and Public Economics
Advisors: Brigitte MadrianRichard Zeckhauser
Job Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Swarthmore College

Gabriel Chan

Dissertation Title: Essays on Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Advisors: William ClarkLaura 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 KatzAsim 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 PakesRobert 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 ChettyBrigitte 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