Rema N. Hanna

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School,
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Office Address
Rubenstein-313
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 26
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-496-1140
Fax: 617-496-5747
Email: Rema_Hanna@hks.harvard.edu
Rema Hanna

Profile

Rema Hanna is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a member of the Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) research program at the Center for International Development, Harvard University. In addition, Hanna is a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), an affiliate of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), and an affiliate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).

Her research focuses on two main themes. First, she has concentrated on understanding how to improve the provision of public services in developing countries, particularly for the very poor. Her work in this area has ranged from testing models of corruption and bureaucratic absenteeism in the field, to understanding how discrimination affects disadvantaged minority groups. Currently, she has been working on a series of field projects to understand what types of individuals are selected to receive social programs under different forms of targeting mechanisms. Second, Hanna aims to understand the implications of environmental policy on poor households in developing countries. Her recent work includes measuring the effects of improved air quality on labor market behavior, as well as assessing the long-run effects of a smokeless cookstove on health and fuel expenditures.

Prior to joining the Kennedy School, Hanna was an assistant professor of public policy and economics at New York University. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and a B.S. from Cornell University.

Courses

Spring

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journal/Scholarly Articles
    • Hanna, Rema N., and Leigh L. Linden. "Discrimination in Grading." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 4.4 (November 2012): 146-168.
    • Alatas, Vivi, Abhijit Banerjee, Rema Hanna, Benjamin A. Olken, and Julia Tobias. "Targeting the Poor: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia." American Economic Review 102.4 (June 2012): 1206-1240.
    • Duflo, Esther, Rema Hanna, and Stephen P. Ryan. "Incentives Work: Getting Teachers to Come to School." American Economic Review 102.4 (June 2012): 1241-1278.
  • Book Chapters
    • Banerjee, Abhijit, Rema Hanna, and Sendhil Mullainathan. "Corruption." The Handbook of Organizational Economics. Ed. Robert Gibbons and John Roberts. Princeton University Press, 2012, 1109-1147.
  • Commentary
    • Greenstone, Michael, and Rema Hanna. "Has Environmental Regulation Been Successful in India?" Ideas for India, July 2012.
    • Duflo, Esther, Michael Greenstone, Rema Hanna, and Radha Muthiah. "Clean Cookstoves Must Be Rethought so They Actually Get Used in Developing World." National Geographic NewsWatch, June 18, 2012.
  • HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
    • Alatas, Vivi, Abhijit Banerjee, Rema Hanna, Benjamin A. Olken, Ririn Purnamasari, and Matthew Wai-Poi. "Does Elite Capture Matter? Local Elites and Targeted Welfare Programs in Indonesia." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP13-008, April 2013.
    • Arceo, Eva, Rema Hanna, and Paulina Oliva. "Does the Effect of Pollution on Infant Mortality Differ Between Developing and Developed Countries? Evidence from Mexico City." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP12-050, November 2012.
    • Hanna, Rema, Vivi Alatas, Abhijit Banerjee, Arun G. Chandrasekhar, and Benjamin A. Olken. "Network Structure and the Aggregation of Information: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series and CID Working Papers (RWP12-043 and 246), October 2012.
    • Hanna, Rema, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Joshua Schwartzstein. "Learning Through Noticing: Theory and Experimental Evidence in Farming." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series and CID Working Papers (RWP12-044 and 245), October 2012.
    • Banerjee, Abhijit, Rema Hanna, and Sendhil Mullainathan. "Corruption." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP12-023, May 2012.