An A.D. White Professors-at-Large keynote public event

Robert N. Stavins (Harvard University; A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell) will present the public lecture, “What Can An Economist Have to Say About Climate Change?” on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 4:30pm, B25 Warren Hall. A reception will follow.

This event is part of an A.D. White Professors-at-Large (ADW-PAL) visit and is cosponsored by the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

Abstract: Professor Stavins will describe how economics can greatly increase understanding of environmental problems, including climate change, and thereby play an important role in identifying and designing policy options that are scientifically effective, economically sensible, and politically pragmatic. He will begin by illustrating two key realities about climate change – one spatial and one temporal – that take us from science to economics to geopolitics and policy. From there, he will examine the role that economic policy instruments have played and may play in the future in countries around the world.

Bio: Robert N. Stavins is the A. J. Meyer Professor of Energy & Economic Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, Director of Graduate Studies for the Doctoral Program in Public Policy and the Doctoral Program in Political Economy and Government, Co‑Chair of the Harvard Business School‑Kennedy School Joint Degree Programs, and Director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements.  He is a University Fellow of Resources for the Future, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London, UK), a Member and Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Resources for the Future; and a Member of:  the Board of Academic Advisors of the AEI‑Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, the Editorial Boards of Resource and Energy Economics, Climate Change Economics, Environmental Economics Abstracts, B.E. Journals of Economic Analysis & Policy, Economic Issues, and Environmental Economics and Policy Studies.  He is also a Vice-President of the American Association of Wine Economists, co-editor of the Journal of Wine Economics, and is the Chair of the Expert Advisory Board of the Harvard Alumni Alliance for the Environment.

He was elected a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists in 2009, was named the 2016 recipient of the Edmund G. Pat Brown Award, and in 2023, he was elected to a six-year term as Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large, Cornell University.  He was formerly a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, the Editorial Board of Land Economics, The Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, the Board of Directors of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, a member and Chairman of the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board, a member of the Executive Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board, the Editor of the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, a member of the Executive Committee of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, a Lead Author of the Second and Third Assessment Reports and a Coordinating Leading Author of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a contributing editor of Environment.  He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Northwestern University, an M.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell, and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.