Harvard Program Studies Environmental Economics

Established at the end of last year, the Environmental Economics Program at Harvard University (EEPHU) has been gaining strength as a venue for Harvard students and faculty interested in studying the environment and its relation to economics and public policy. EEPHU Director Robert N. Stavins, Pratt professor of business and government, said he is excited that Harvard is the first university to establish a program in environmental economics. He said the program will bring together leading faculty from various departments in the University, and will serve as a resource for those both inside and outside Harvard.

"This program provides a convenient portal for students to gain access to resources. .. It also does something externally-it makes Harvard much more visible nationally and internationally for people studying environmental public policy," he said. "[The public did] not realize the simple truth that Harvard is the leading institution in the world for environmental economics because there was no venue-it hasn't been obvious."

Stavins said the idea to start EEPHU came from a discussion he had with University Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 and Ira Jackson, director of the Center of Business and Government at the Kennedy School. Once the idea for the program was firmly established, the center provided grant funding.

EEPHU is not a degree-offering program-instead, it brings together 17 faculty members of the University and provides resources for academics and graduate students studying environmental economics. EEPHU Program Coordinator Lori Snyder, who is herself a graduate student, believes that the program supplements graduate work in environmental economics.

"There is now a well organized cohort of doctorate students who are now doing environmental economics," she said.

EEPHU's website allows the program to inform the community both inside and outside of the University about environmental economics.

"It is not always the case that students from other parts of the University are aware of what is happening," she said. "With the website, we wanted to make sure that events that are going on anyway are broadcasted to a wider population both within the school and externally."

Snyder also participates in EEPHU's biweekly lunch seminar where graduate students present their work to each other.

"At each stage of the game you are getting feedback, and that is something that this program is designed to do," she said. "It is meant to supplement the traditional Ph.D. programs with an additional support of people."

Participants in the program have gone on to a diverse range of careers.

"We have placed many of the students at leading universities. Another group of students go to think tanks, others have gone onto organizations like the World Bank," Stavins said.

Stavins, who did not have such a framework for study during his own graduate work, is confident that EEPHU will provide a valuable connection to those affiliated with the program. "That's what was missing for me-I was not part of this larger cohort of students from the university interested in the environmental economics."