Curriculum Vitae
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Benjamin A. Olken
B ENJAMIN A. O LKEN MIT Department of Economics, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02142 (617) 253-6833 email: [email protected] web: econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/bolken Date of Birth: April 1975 Education 2004 Ph.D., Economics, Harvard University 1997 B.A. summa cum laude, Ethics, Politics, and Economics; Mathematics, Yale University Employment 2008 – present Associate Professor of Economics (with tenure), Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2010 – 2011 Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Booth School 2005 – 2008 Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows 2004 – 2005 Health and Aging Post-Doctoral Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research 2001 – 2008 Consultant, The World Bank, Jakarta Office 1998 – 1999 Business Analyst, McKinsey and Company, New York 1997 – 1998 Luce Scholar in Economic Policy, The Castle Group, Jakarta Other Affiliations 2010 – present Co-Chair of Governance Initiative and Member of Board of Directors Executive Committe, Jameel Poverty Actio1n Lab (J-PAL) 2010 – present Fellow, Bureau for Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) 2009 – present Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) 2006 – present Research Affiliate, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) 2005 – 2010 Member, Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) 2006 – 2010 Affiliate, Bureau for Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) 2005 – 2009 Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) 2005 – 2008 Visiting Scholar, MIT Department of Economics and Poverty Action Lab -
Rohini Pande
ROHINI PANDE 27 Hillhouse Avenue 203.432.3637(w) PO Box 208269 [email protected] New Haven, CT 06520-8269 https://campuspress.yale.edu/rpande EDUCATION 1999 Ph.D., Economics, London School of Economics 1995 M.Sc. in Economics, London School of Economics (Distinction) 1994 MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford University 1992 BA (Hons.) in Economics, St. Stephens College, Delhi University PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE ACADEMIC POSITIONS 2019 – Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics, Yale University 2018 – 2019 Rafik Hariri Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University 2006 – 2017 Mohammed Kamal Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University 2005 – 2006 Associate Professor of Economics, Yale University 2003 – 2005 Assistant Professor of Economics, Yale University 1999 – 2003 Assistant Professor of Economics, Columbia University VISITING POSITIONS April 2018 Ta-Chung Liu Distinguished Visitor at Becker Friedman Institute, UChicago Spring 2017 Visiting Professor of Economics, University of Pompeu Fabra and Stanford Fall 2010 Visiting Professor of Economics, London School of Economics Spring 2006 Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley Fall 2005 Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia University 2002 – 2003 Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, MIT CURRENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES 2019 – Director, Economic Growth Center Yale University 2019 – Co-editor, American Economic Review: Insights 2014 – IZA -
Sendhil Mullainathan [email protected]
Sendhil Mullainathan [email protected] _____________________________________________________________________________________ Education HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MA, 1993-1998 PhD in Economics Dissertation Topic: Essays in Applied Microeconomics Advisors: Drew Fudenberg, Lawrence Katz, and Andrei Shleifer CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, NY, 1990-1993 B.A. in Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics, magna cum laude Fields of Interest Behavioral Economics, Poverty, Applied Econometrics, Machine Learning Professional Affiliations UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Roman Family University Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science, January 1, 2019 to present. University Professor, Professor of Computational and Behavioral Science, and George C. Tiao Faculty Fellow, Booth School of Business, July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. HARVARD UNIVERSITY Robert C Waggoner Professor of Economics, 2015 to 2018. Affiliate in Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, July 1, 2016 to 2018. Professor of Economics, 2004 (September) to 2015. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Visiting Professor, Booth School of Business, 2016-17. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Mark Hyman Jr. Career Development Associate Professor, 2002-2004 Mark Hyman Jr. Career Development Assistant Professor, 2000-2002 Assistant Professor, 1998- 2000 SELECTED AFFILIATIONS Co - Founder and Senior Scientific Director, ideas42 Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research Founding Member, Poverty Action Lab Member, American Academy of Arts -
African Successes, Volume II: Human Capital
This PDF is a selection from a published volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: African Successes, Volume II: Human Capital Volume Author/Editor: Sebastian Edwards, Simon Johnson, and David N. Weil, editors Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press Volume ISBNs: 978-0-226-31605-5 (cloth) Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/afri14-2 Conference Dates: December 11–12, 2009; July 18–20, 2010; August 3–5, 2011 Publication Date: September 2016 Chapter Title: Comparing Economic and Social Interventions to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Central and Southern Africa Chapter Author(s): Radha Iyengar, Giulia Ferrari Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c13379 Chapter pages in book: (p. 165 – 214) 6 Comparing Economic and Social Interventions to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence Evidence from Central and Southern Africa Radha Iyengar and Giulia Ferrari 6.1 Introduction Empowerment of women within households and reduction in domestic violence remains a major issue around the world, including Africa. Despite this, there is a lack of broad evidence and little consensus among scholars or practitioners as to what programs or policies are effective. In particular, the debate remains as to whether economic conditions, such as wage rates or labor market opportunities, affect bargaining power and reduction in vio- lence or whether specific gender- based programs are required. This chapter describes an impact evaluation of a financial skills and negotiation- training program in conjunction with microfinancing in Burundi compared to data from a previously published study on gender- based training for women receiving microfinancing in South Africa. The Burundi program coupled discussion groups for both women and Radha Iyengar is a senior economist at RAND. -
14.770: Introduction to Political Economy
14.770: Introduction to Political Economy Daron Acemoglu and Benjamin Olken Fall 2018. This course is intended as an introduction to field of political economy. It is the first part of the two-part sequence in political economy, along with 14.773 which will be offered in the spring. Combined the purpose of the two classes is to give you both a sense of the frontier research topics and a good command of the tools in the area. The reading list is intentionally long, to give those of you interested in the field an opportunity to dig deeper into some of the topics in this area. The lectures will cover the material with *'s in detail and also discuss the material without *'s, but in less detail. Grading: Class requirements: • Problem sets (50% of grade). You may work in groups of maximum 2 students on the problem sets, and even then each of you must hand in your own solutions. There will be approximately 5-6 problem sets in total, covering a mix of theory and empirics. • Final Exam. (40% of grade). • Class participation (10% of grade) Course Information: Professors Daron Acemoglu: [email protected] Benjamin Olken: [email protected] Teaching Assistant Mateo Montenegro: mateo [email protected] Lecture MW 10:30-12:00 (E51-376) Recitation F 12:00 - 1:00 (E51-372) 1 Collective Choices and Voting (DA, 9/6 & 9/11) These two lectures introduce some basic notions from the theory of collective choice and the basic static voting models. 1. Arrow, Kenneth J. (1951, 2nd ed., 1963). -
World Welfare Is Rising: Estimation Using Nonparametric Bounds on Welfare Measures
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports World Welfare Is Rising: Estimation Using Nonparametric Bounds on Welfare Measures Maxim L. Pinkovskiy Staff Report No. 662 December 2013 This paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of views at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the author. World Welfare Is Rising: Estimation Using Nonparametric Bounds on Welfare Measures Maxim L. Pinkovskiy Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 662 December 2013 JEL classification: I31, C02 Abstract I take a new approach to measuring world inequality and welfare over time by constructing robust bounds for these series instead of imposing parametric assumptions to compute point estimates. I derive sharp bounds on the Atkinson inequality index that are valid for any underlying distribution of income conditional on given fractile shares and the Gini coefficient. While the bounds are too wide to reject the hypothesis that world inequality may have risen, I show that world welfare rose unambiguously between 1970 and 2006. This conclusion is valid for alternative methods of dealing with countries and years with missing surveys, alternative survey harmonization procedures, and alternative GDP series, or if the inequality surveys used systematically underreport the income of the very rich or suffer from nonresponse bias. Key words: world income distribution, inequality and welfare measures, nonparametric bounds _________________ Pinkovskiy: Federal Reserve Bank of New York (e-mail: [email protected]). -
A Dozen MIT Faculty and Alumni Who Are Shaping the Future of Economics
24/9/2014 MIT Spectrum | Continuum | A Dozen MIT Faculty and Alumni Who Are Shaping the Future of Economics A DOZEN MIT FACULTY AND ALUMNI WHO ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ECONOMICS September 23rd, 2014 MIT Sloan professor Kristin Forbes PhD ’98 is one of three economists on the IMF’s “Generation Next” list to be both MIT alumnus and faculty member. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has populated nearly half its “Generation Next” list—which celebrates 25 economists under the age of 45—with MIT faculty and alumni. In some cases, the featured economists are both: Esther Duflo PhD ’99, Amy Finkelstein PhD ’01, and Kristin Forbes PhD ’98 all hold endowed chairs in MIT’s Department of Economics. The 12 scholars listed below study poverty and health care, education and real estate, crime and taxes. What they have in common is that the international finance community deems them “economists to keep an eye on” for the way they are shaping global thought—and that they’ve spent time honing their ideas on MIT’s campus. Melissa Dell PhD ’12, a Harvard assistant professor who at age 31 ties as the youngest on the IMF’s list, has studied how government crackdowns on drug violence can influence economic outcomes. Her most recent publication, whose coauthors include MIT’s Benjamin Olken, looks at the economic effects of climate. Esther Duflo PhD ’99 is MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, and a founder and director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). -
CORRUPTION Abhijit Banerjee Sendhil Mullainathan Rema Hanna
CORRUPTION Abhijit Banerjee Sendhil Mullainathan Rema Hanna WORKING PAPER 17968 NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES CORRUPTION Abhijit Banerjee Sendhil Mullainathan Rema Hanna Working Paper 17968 http://www.nber.org/papers/w17968 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 April 2012 The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer- reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2012 by Abhijit Banerjee, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Rema Hanna. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Corruption Abhijit Banerjee, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Rema Hanna NBER Working Paper No. 17968 April 2012 JEL No. D02,O10,O12,O43 ABSTRACT In this paper, we provide a new framework for analyzing corruption in public bureaucracies. The standard way to model corruption is as an example of moral hazard, which then leads to a focus on better monitoring and stricter penalties with the eradication of corruption as the final goal. We propose an alternative approach which emphasizes why corruption arises in the first place. Corruption is modeled as a consequence of the interaction between the underlying task being performed by bureaucrat, the bureaucrat's private incentives and what the principal can observe and control. This allows us to study not just corruption but also other distortions that arise simultaneously with corruption, such as red-tape and ultimately, the quality and efficiency of the public services provided, and how these outcomes vary depending on the specific features of this task. -
Take-Up and Targeting: Experimental Evidence from SNAP
Take-up and Targeting: Experimental Evidence from SNAP Amy Finkelstein and Matthew J. Notowidigdo∗ April 2019 Abstract We develop a framework for welfare analysis of interventions designed to increase take-up of social safety net programs in the presence of potential behavioral biases. We calibrate the key parameters using a randomized field experiment in which 30,000 elderly individuals not enrolled in – but likely eligible for – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are either provided with information that they are likely eligible, provided with this information and also offered assistance in applying, or are in a “status quo” control group. Only 6 percent of the control group enrolls in SNAP over the next 9 months, compared to 11 percent of the Information Only group and 18 percent of the Information Plus Assistance group. The individuals who apply or enroll in response to either intervention have higher net income and are less sick than the average enrollee in the control group. We present evidence consistent with the existence of optimization frictions that are greater for needier individuals, which suggests that the poor targeting properties of the interventions reduce their welfare benefits. JEL codes: C93; H53; I38 Keywords: SNAP; Food Stamps; Take-Up; Targeting; Welfare. ∗MIT and Northwestern (respectively), National Bureau of Economic Research, and J-PAL North America. We are grateful to Martin Aragoneses, Aileen Devlin, Carolyn Stein, John Tebes, and Ting Wang for excellent research assis- tance and to Laura Feeney for superb research management. We thank our excellent partners at Benefits Data Trust, and particularly Rachel Cahill and Matt Stevens who worked tirelessly and patiently to address our inumerable re- quests and questions. -
Rohini Pande
ROHINI PANDE 27 Hillhouse Avenue 203.432.3637 (w) PO Box 208269 [email protected] New Haven, CT 06520-8269 https://campuspress.yale.edu/rpande/ EDUCATION 1999 Ph.D., Economics, London School of Economics 1995 M.Sc. in Economics, London School of Economics (Distinction) 1994 MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford University 1992 BA (Hons.) in Economics, St. Stephens College, Delhi University PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE ACADEMIC POSITIONS 2019 - Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics, Yale University 2018 – 2019 Rafik Hariri Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University 2006 – 2017 Mohammed Kamal Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University 2005 – 2006 Associate Professor of Economics, Yale University 2003 – 2005 Assistant Professor of Economics, Yale University 1999 – 2003 Assistant Professor of Economics, Columbia University VISITING POSITIONS April 2018 Ta-Chung Liu Distinguished Visitor at Becker Friedman Institute, UChicago Spring 2017 Visiting Professor of Economics, University of Pompeu Fabra and Stanford Fall 2010 Visiting Professor of Economics, London School of Economics Spring 2006 Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley Fall 2005 Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia University 2002 – 2003 Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, MIT CURRENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES 2019 - Director, Economic Growth Center Yale University 2019 - Co-editor, American Economic Review: Insights 2014 – -
Does Financial Reform Raise Or Reduce Savings?
Does Financial Reform Raise or Reduce Savings? Authors: Oriana Bandiera, Gerard Caprio Jr., Patrick Honohan, Fabio Schiantarelli This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Working Papers in Economics, 1998 Originally posted on: http://ideas.repec.org/p/boc/bocoec/413.html DOES FINANCIAL REFORM RAISE OR REDUCE SAVINGS? By Oriana Bandiera (Boston College) Gerard Caprio Jr. (World Bank) Patrick Honohan (World Bank and CEPR) Fabio Schiantarelli (Boston College) This draft: September 1998 We would like to thank Pierre-Richard AgŽnor, Craig Burnside, Bruce Hansen, Tullio Jappelli, Peter Pedroni, Deborah Wetzel, Stephen Zeldes, participants in seminars at Boston College and the World Bank, and especially Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, and Luis ServŽn for useful suggestions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. DOES FINANCIAL REFORM RAISE OR REDUCE SAVING? By Oriana Bandiera*, Gerard Caprio Jr.**, Patrick Honohan** and Fabio Schiantarelli* (*Boston College, **World Bank) Abstract The effect of financial liberalization on private saving is theoretically ambiguous, not only because the link between interest rate levels and saving is itself ambiguous, but also because financial liberalization is a multi-dimensional and phased process, sometimes involving reversals. Some dimensions, such as increased household access to consumer credit or housing finance, might also work to reduce private savings rather than increasing them. Furthermore, the long-term effect of liberalization on savings may differ substantially from the impact effect. Using Principal Components, we construct a 25-year time series index of financial liberalization for each of eight developing countries: Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey and Zimbabwe. -
Climate Shocks and Economic Growth
Climate Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century Melissa Dell MIT Benjamin F. Jones Northwestern University and NBER and Benjamin A. Olken MIT and NBER April 2009 ABSTRACT This paper uses annual variation in climate to examine the impact of temperature and precipitation on national economies. We find three primary results. First, higher temperatures substantially reduce economic growth in poor countries. Second, higher temperatures appear to reduce growth rates, not just the level of output. Third, higher temperatures have wide-ranging effects, reducing agricultural and industrial output, investment, innovation, and political stability. Decade or longer increases in temperature also show substantial negative effects on poor countries’ growth. These findings inform debates over climate’s role in economic development and suggest substantial negative impacts of future climate change on poor countries. We thank Daron Acemoglu, Esther Duflo, Douglas Gollin, Michael Greenstone, Jonathan Gruber, Seema Jayachandran, Charles Jones, Peter Klenow, Ross McKitrick, William Nordhaus, Elias Papaioannou, Richard Tol, Carl Wunsch and numerous seminar participants for helpful comments and suggestions. Contact emails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]. 1. Introduction At least since Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws (1750), which argued that an “excess of heat” made men “slothful and dispirited”, it has been debated whether climate is – or is not – central to understanding economic development. In this paper, we use historical fluctuations in temperature within countries to identify its effects on aggregate economic outcomes. We use this approach to inform old debates about the role of climate in economic development and new debates about possible impacts of future climate change.