fbpx Job Market Candidates | Harvard Kennedy School

Our recent PhD in Public Policy (PPOL) graduates have gone on to take academic positions at Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard Business School, New York University, Penn State University, Princeton University, Tufts University, University of California, San Diego, and Yale University.

Others developed analyst or policy careers at the Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Millennium Challenge Corporation, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, and several nongovernmental organizations.

Contact our Placement Directors Matthew Baum (political science) and Marcella Alsan (economics) or the Doctoral Programs Director Nicole Tateosian if you have questions about our PPOL candidates listed below who are entering the job market.


Kristen McCormack

Job Market Paper Title: Education Under Extremes: Temperature, Student Absenteeism, and Disciplinary Infractions
Research fields: Applied microeconomics with a focus on environmental, health, and public economics.
Committee:  David Cutler (chair), Joseph AldyMarcella AlsanEdward Glaeser

Dayea Oh

Job Market Paper Title: When Women Run: Double-Edged Effect of Political Representation
Research fields: Labor economics with a focus on political economy and development economics.
Committee: Will Dobbie (chair), Michela CarlanaReshmaan N. Hussam, Vincent Pons

Felix Owusu

Job Market Paper Title: Presumptive Nonprosecution in Suffolk County, MA
Research fields: Labor economics with a focus on the economics of crime, inequality, and discrimination.
Committee: David Deming (chair), Desmond Ang, Sandra Susan Smith

Lauren Russell

Draft Job Market Paper Title: "The New Jim Crow:" Employer Access to Criminal Record Information and Racial Differences in Labor Market Outcomes
Research fields: Labor economics and public finance with a focus on the intersections of poverty, race, inequality, and gender. Interested specifically in neighborhood sorting, neighborhood effects, and U.S. housing policy.
Committee Members: David Deming (chair), Will Dobbie, Edward Glaeser

Averell Schmidt

Job Market Paper Title: How Treaty Withdrawal Impacts International Cooperation
Research fields: International relations, political methodology. 
Committee Members: Kathryn Sikkink (chair), Christina DavisKosuke Imai

Beth Spink

Job Market Paper Title: Utilities as Creditors: The Effect of Enforcement of Water Bill Payment in Zambia
Research fields: Environmental economics, development economics
Recommenders: Rema Hanna (chair), Jie Bai, Gabriel Kreindler

Sam Stemper

Job Market Paper Title: Doing More with Less: School Management and Education Production
Research fields: Applied microeconomics, labor economics, and economics of education. 
Committee: Christopher Avery (chair), Joshua Goodman, Lawrence Katz