ECON 3116A: Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy

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SEMINAR UPDATES

  • API 905y/ECON 3116 a/b are cross-listed together here as one course page.  
  • The seminar will return to in-person only for the Spring 2026 semester.  It will meet on Thursdays, 4:30 - 5:45, alternating between Land Hall, Belfer 400 at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Building E51 (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Room 376 at MIT.
  • If you do not have a Harvard ID, and you plan to attend the seminar, please email Meredith Landry so that she can add you to the security list.  All Non-Harvard ID holders will need to enter the Kennedy School through the main entrance of the Wexner building and check in at the security desk so please allow extra time for entry.

NAVIGATING THIS WEBSITE

  • The seminar syllabus and schedule are available for download via the buttons below and the Files page.
  • Papers will be made available approximately two weeks before each seminar date and will be available for download in the Spring 2026 subfolder of the Files page.

 

Harvard Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy

API-905y/Econ 3116

Fall 2025 - Spring 2026

 

            This is a year-long research seminar on topics in environmental and natural resource economics, with particular focus on climate change economics and policy.  It meets on Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:45, alternating between Land Hall (Belfer Building, Room 400) of the Harvard Kennedy School at 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, and Building E51 (Tang Cener), 70 Memorial Drive, Room 376 of MIT.

Seminars emphasize theoretical models, quantitative empirical analysis, and public policy applications, featuring presentations by invited speakers.  Auditors are welcome.  A brief information (shopping) session for students who may wish to enroll will take place remotely on September 3rd at 11:30-11:55  The first meeting of seminar will be on Wednesday, September 17th.  The complete fall schedule is available at the Canvas website.  Further information is available at the Canvas course website:

 

https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/155233

 

 

Course Requirements:

 

Registered students must enroll for the full year of the seminar and attend all sessions.  They prepare a research paper, which is due at the conclusion of the spring semester, and should be at the level of the seminar, i.e. Ph.D.-level economics.  In addition, students prepare brief (two-page) notes about each seminar presentation throughout the year.  Required reading consists of papers presented at each session.

 

Prerequisites:

 

The course is intended primarily for Ph.D. students in economics, political economy and government, public policy, health policy, and related fields with interests in applications in the environmental and natural resource area.  Prerequisites include Ph.D.-level course work in microeconomic theory, such as Economics 2010A/B, Economics 2020A/B (cross-listed as Kennedy School API-111/112), and API-109i/110i.

 

Instructors:

 

Wolfram Schlenker                                                       James Stock

Office: Kennedy School                    Office: Economics Department, Room M-27

Phone:                                             Phone: 617-496-0502

E-Mail: wolfram_schlenker@hks.harvard.edu                      E-Mail: james_stock@harvard.edu

 

The faculty assistant for the course is:                      

Meredith Landry

Office:  Kennedy School, Opposite L-306

Phone: 617-496-8054

E-Mail: meredith_landry@hks.harvard.edu

 

Harvard Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy

                                                                             

API-905y/Econ 3116a/b

Robert Stavins and James Stock

https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/155233

 

Spring 2026 Schedule

Spring 2026, Thursday, 4:30-5:45 pm

Harvard Kennedy School, Land Hall (Belfer Building, Room 400)

MIT, Building E51 (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Room 376

 

Support from Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics

and the Department of Economics is Gratefully Acknowledged

February 5

Harvard

Tamma Carleton, University of California, Berkekley, Marco Tabellini,  Harvard University, Charles A. Taylor, Harvard University, Guglielmo Zappalà, Harvard University, “A Hedonic Social Cost of Carbon: Evidence from US Migration.”

 
TBA

February 19

Harvard

 

Eric Zou, University of Michigan, “Trade, Trees, and Lives.”

 

February 26

MIT

 

Esther Duflo, MIT, TBA

March 5

Harvard

 

Daniel Xu, Duke University, “Regulation Meets Public Infrastructure: Evidence from Environmental Water Policy in China.”

March 12

MIT

 

Jan De Loecker, KU Leuven, “Two Wrongs Can Sometimes Make a Right: The Environmental Benefits of Market Power in Oil.”

April 2

Harvard

 

Neil Mehotra, Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota, TBA

April 9

MIT

 

Eyal Frank, University of Chicago, TBA

April 16

Harvard

 

Joe Shapiro, University of California, Berkeley, Hannah Druckenmiller and Charles Taylor, Harvard.  Paving the Swamp: Consequences of land Use Regulation Under the Clean Water Act.”

April 23

MIT

 

Heitor Pellegrina,  University of Notre Dame,  Julian Arteaga, Nicolas de Roux, Margarita Gafaro, and Ana Maria Ibanez,. "Farm Size Distribution, Weather Shocks, and Agricultural Productivity”

 

Note:  Name of presenter is in Bold.

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due