2010-2011 Student Affiliate Alumni
2010-2011 Student Affiliate Alumni
Manfredi Caltagirone
Email: manfredi_caltagirone@hks11.harvard.edu
Master in Public Administration candidate (2011), HKS
Empedocle Maffia Fellowship
Eliana Carranza
Email: Carranza@fas.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Program in Political Economy and Government, HKS
Economics of a Lightbulb: Experimental Evidence on CFLs and End-User Behavior (with Robyn Meeks)
In promoting energy efficiency, not only are technological innovations necessary, but further learning regarding behavioral barrier mechanisms that arise from end-user interactions with these technologies. In order to better understand the adoption, continued use and diffusion process of the CFL technology, this study uses randomized experiments to inspect two major mechanisms: (1) the “rebound” or behavioral responses that boost consumption and offset CFLs’ technologically feasible electricity savings and (2) the role of “peer” networks in spreading information, including whether the information source is too noisy or if negative information weighs more heavily or spreads faster than positive information. As initial take up of CFL lamps may be limited because the willingness to pay (WTP) for them is lower than the market price, WTP will also be elicited.
The project outcomes inform several aspects of energy preservation policy. Examination of the rebound will provide information on the optimal combination of innovation and price policies, and the trade-off between welfare and electricity conservation. Examination of peer-networks will discern between different learning mechanisms and tell how best to advance CFLs’ diffusion. Lastly, assessment of WTP will assist in developing strategies for optimal pricing. Lessons learned regarding responses to energy efficient technologies have behavioral implications that are policy relevant for CFL programs deployed recently in developing countries, as well as for technology-based strategies for energy preservation in developed nations.
2010 Sustainability Science research and travel grant
Faculty advisors: Lawrence Katz, Sendhil Mullainathan, Rohini Pande
Lorenzo Casaburi
Email: casaburi@fas.harvard.edu
PhD candidate. Economics Department
The Kenya small scale cash crop longitudinal study: Understanding the impact of environmental stress on agricultural dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa
The 2008 World Development Report points out at the importance of climate change and demographic pressure for farmers' welfare in developing countries. Improving our understanding of the effects of environmental stress on farmers' choices in these settings is therefore a key challenge for Sustainability Science. Yet, the scarcity of longitudinal databases has been a major constraint to research progress. The project aims to shed new light on farmers' decision making by creating a unique database of sugar cane growers from a large sugar company in Kenya. Available information includes cane harvest, soil fertility, farming inputs, upkeep of farmers' plots, contracts between the company and their farmers. The data will be used to assess the impact of climate change and demographic pressure on land ownership, plots' management and labor choices.
2010 Sustainability Science Program research and travel grant
Faculty advisor: Michael Kremer
Filippo Cavassini
Filippo Cavassini is an Empedocle Maffia Fellow in the
Master of Public Policy Program at Harvard’s
Kennedy School of Government. His coursework focuses on regulatory policies and the role that regulation can play in facilitating sustainable development. Between 2003 and 2008, Cavassini worked on policy and operational support toward enhanced aid effectiveness at the
World Bank. He co-authored “
An Operational Approach to Assessing Country Ownership of Poverty Reduction Strategies,” an innovative study that develops an operational approach to the concept of country ownership, focusing on the role of the private sector, as well as the executive, the legislature and civil society, in development policy formulation. He contributed to the review “
Enabling Country Capacity to Achieve Results,” assessing aid effectiveness in low-income countries and conducting related advisory and training activities for development professionals and government officials in Africa, Central Asia and Latin America. He co-authored the follow-up review “
Results-Based National Development Strategies: Assessment and Challenges Ahead”, the source of benchmarking and monitoring for the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. He advised the AIDS coordination
Global Task Team on harmonization of financing mechanisms. Prior to joining the World Bank, Cavassini worked as an analyst in the French National Assembly and a research assistant in the Parliamentary Office of the UK Federation of Small Businesses. Cavassini holds degrees in history and classics from the Universities of Bologna and Cambridge, as well as political science and international relations from the
London School of Economics and the
Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.
Email: filippo_cavassini@hks10.harvard.edu
Master in Public Policy candidate (2011), HKS
Empedocle Maffia Fellowship
Gabe Chan
Email: gabe_chan@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
The U.S. energy technology innovation system: A cross-sectoral investigation of the interface between technologists, policymakers and financiers
This study will explore the rapidly evolving energy technology innovation field in multiple settings where policy for innovation effects innovation outputs and outcomes. It includes conducting interviews and collecting data in U.S. national laboratories, government agencies, technology investment funds, private firms engaged in R&D, and universities. Research questions on the intersection between public policy and technology research development, demonstration, and deployment will be explored: What are the important dynamic relationships between actors/institutions , energy innovation system (e.g., the pairing of innovative firms to venture capital)? How important is the geographical location of innovators/innovative firms for technology development? To what extent does long-term planning and long-term goal setting affect innovative outcomes? Why do research, development, or deployment (RD&D) projects fail? Are the challenges of energy innovation policy a matter of scale (i.e. existing policies are not pursued intensely enough or with not enough funding) or like (i.e. the wrong types of policies exist)?
2010 Vicki Norberg Bohm Fellowship
Faculty advisor: William Clark
Diane Charlton
Email: dicharlton@gmail.com
Masters candidate, Economics Department, University of California at Davis
Chlorine dispenser scale-up and local government accountability in Kenya
The primary responsibilities of the Research Assistant include: 1) Developing and maintaining a dataset of ethnic diversity, political competition, water source quality, and the allocation of public projects across Kenya, which may entail: coordinating with Enumeration Coordinators (ECs) and data entry staff in Kenya to facilitate the collection and entry data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, and other Government Agencies and NGOs; library research at Harvard to find alternative supplementary sources of data; and merging and transforming different sources of data to create one dataset. 2) Conducting preliminary analysis using this dataset, which will be used by Principal Investigators for two purposes: writing a paper on the relationship between ethnic diversity and pubic goods allocation; and designing a field experiment on politician decision-making. Assisting with proposal writing for funding for projects including, but not limited to: supporting chlorine dispenser scale-up; disseminating research results on water treatment to policy makers; and further research on local governments. 4) Other research tasks related to water treatment, public goods, and local government, as assigned.
2009-2010 Research assistant
Faculty advisors: Ryan Sheely, Michael Kremer
Mauricio Fernandez Duque
Email: m.auricio.f.duque@gmail.com
Ph.D. candidate, Program in Political Economy and Government, HKS
Understanding environmental policies in Mexico City
Mexico City is one of the most polluted cities in the world. To reduce pollution, Mexico City has implemented a series of environmental policies, including shutting down a major oil refinery in the middle of Mexico City. A summer RA will work on a project designed to better understand the impacts of environmental policy in Mexico City. Specifically, the RA will help two projects. First, the RA will help work with data to understand the impacts of the refinery closure on both pollution and labor supply. Second, the RA will travel to Mexico City to better map out the institutional details of key environmental policies. Ability to use STATA is required.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisor: Rema Hanna
Erin Frey
Email: erin.l.frey@gmail.com
A.B., Harvard College (2010); PhD candidate, PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Improving climate change mitigation in African agriculture to benefit the poor (Kenya)
Land-based strategies for climate change mitigation potentially affect millions of poor smallholder farmers in developing countries, yet the impacts of these strategies on local livelihoods and food security are unclear. As initiatives are developed to promote agricultural-based mitigation, identifying options that also address poverty is essential for sustainable development. The summer RA will conduct a scoping study to help select sites in East or West Africa for action research on improving benefits of mitigation to the poor. From a base in Nairobi, the RA will consult with communities and project partners in 6-10 sites to (1) assess projects’ institutional arrangements for sustainably improving livelihoods and food security of the poor while reducing climate impacts, (2) identify potential interventions for improving benefits to the poor, and (3) evaluate partner interest in further collaboration and the availability and quality of existing socioeconomic baseline data. The RA will use the findings to prepare a report with recommendations for action research. A strong possibility for continued independent research is possible. CCAFS will support expenses related to international and local travel, and communications. Extensive field travel and strong interpersonal skills required. The project is a collaboration of CCAFS, Ecoagriculture and ICRAF.
2010 Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research and travel grant
Faculty host and supervisor: William Clark; Lini Wollenberg, University of Vermont and CGIAR-ESSP Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security theme leader
Ian Gray
Email: igray@mit.edu
Master in City Planning candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2012)
Climate change effects on agricultural productivity
The CGIAR Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security will be involved in preparing a research report for the next UNFCCC COP in Mexico in December on the additional challenges to food security and environmental sustainability that climate change poses. We are looking for research assistance that includes data collection and management for a global model of world agriculture, review of literature on topics ranging from national climate change impact assessments to global modeling of climate change effects on agricultural productivity, and writing up research results. The position is based at IFPRI in Washington, DC (www.ifpri.org) working with Gerald Nelson (coordinator of IFPRI's climate change research and CCAFS team member) and other staff, Environment, Production, and Technology Division with the possibility of travel to Europe to support other members of CCAFS working on the report. Applicants should have had several economics courses, including at least one that addresses the challenges of economic development.
2010 Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research and travel grant
Faculty host and Supervisor: William Clark; Gerald C. Nelson, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute and CGIAR-ESSP Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security theme leader
Tara Grillos
Email: tara_grillos@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Beneficiary participation in water supply and watershed management projects
This research will explore the relationship between varying levels and methods of community participation and the effectiveness of projects related to watershed management and water system construction and maintenance. Participatory processes have received considerable attention in recent years among development practitioners, both as a form of empowerment and as a method for improving project outcomes. While such processes may hold some inherent value, there is as yet no clear consensus as to how participation affects outcomes. As these processes also incur costs, there are trade-offs implicit, concept of beneficiary participation, which may be particularly significant in projects aimed at the provision of basic needs. Even if we implicitly accept the value of beneficiary participation in water provision, there rema, questions of what forms of participation and under what circumstances are appropriate. Resolving these issues could have important implications for improving the efficiency and efficacy of community development practice.
2010 Vickl Norberg Bohm Fellowship
Faculty advisor: William Clark
Waste management outcomes and community-based data collection in rural Kenya
The aim of this project is to develop a system of data collection, management, and analysis that simultaneously meets the standards of best-practice social scientific research and also ensures community ownership of the research process and outcomes. The research assistant for this project will have two responsibilities: 1) working with community members and other researchers to develop and implement measures of the impact of waste management on environmental, economic, and health outcomes; and 2) working with community members and computer programmers to develop protocols for collecting and analyzing data that can be directly accessed and used by the local community. The implementing organization for both projects is the SAFI Project, a grassroots NGO cofounded by Professor Sheely and community members in Laikipia, Kenya. Since 2007, the SAFI Project has combined randomized program evaluations with ongoing community mobilization, education, and capacity building. Research assistants for both projects will work directly with Professor Sheely and SAFI Project field staff. Responsibilities will include overseeing survey data collection, conducting qualitative research (focus group discussions, interviews, and participant observation), overseeing the design and implementation of pilot programs, and participating in community mobilization and organizational capacity building. Field experience in community mobilization/development, professional or classroom experience with data collection and/or randomized controlled trials. Proficiency/fluency in Swahili and experience with data analysis software (including but not limited to Stata, R, and ArcGIS) a plus. The research assistant will be based in Nanyuki, a medium-sized town , Laikipia region of Central Kenya. RA preferences can dictate the balance between office work in Nanyuki and field work in rural communities in Laikipia. The SAFI project will arrange for transportation and housing in both Nanyuki and the rural field sites.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisor: Ryan Sheely
Alicia Harley
Email: alicia_harley@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Faculty advisor: William Clark
Mai Hassan
Email: mai.o.hassan@gmail.com
PhD candidate, Government Department
Waste management outcomes and community-based data collection in rural Kenya
The aim of this project is to develop a system of data collection, management, and analysis that simultaneously meets the standards of best-practice social scientific research and also ensures community ownership of the research process and outcomes. The research assistant for this project will have two responsibilities: 1) working with community members and other researchers to develop and implement measures of the impact of waste management on environmental, economic, and health outcomes; and 2) working with community members and computer programmers to develop protocols for collecting and analyzing data that can be directly accessed and used by the local community. The implementing organization for both projects is the SAFI Project, a grassroots NGO cofounded by Professor Sheely and community members in Laikipia, Kenya. Since 2007, the SAFI Project has combined randomized program evaluations with ongoing community mobilization, education, and capacity building. Research assistants for both projects will work directly with Professor Sheely and SAFI Project field staff. Responsibilities will include overseeing survey data collection, conducting qualitative research (focus group discussions, interviews, and participant observation), overseeing the design and implementation of pilot programs, and participating in community mobilization and organizational capacity building. Field experience in community mobilization/development, professional or classroom experience with data collection and/or randomized controlled trials. Proficiency/fluency in Swahili and experience with data analysis software (including but not limited to Stata, R, and ArcGIS) a plus. The research assistant will be based in Nanyuki, a medium-sized town , Laikipia region of Central Kenya. RA preferences can dictate the balance between office work in Nanyuki and field work in rural communities in Laikipia. The SAFI project will arrange for transportation and housing in both Nanyuki and the rural field sites.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisor: Ryan Sheely
Christina Ingersoll
Email: cking1@mit.edu
Master in Business Administration, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2010)
Climate change effects on agricultural productivity
The CGIAR Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security will be involved in preparing a research report for the next UNFCCC COP in Mexico in December on the additional challenges to food security and environmental sustainability that climate change poses. We are looking for research assistance that includes data collection and management for a global model of world agriculture, review of literature on topics ranging from national climate change impact assessments to global modeling of climate change effects on agricultural productivity, and writing up research results. The position is based at IFPRI in Washington, DC (www.ifpri.org) working with Gerald Nelson (coordinator of IFPRI’s climate change research and CCAFS team member) and other staff , Environment, Production, and Technology Division with the possibility of travel to Europe to support other members of CCAFS working on the report. Applicants should have had several economics courses, including at least one that addresses the challenges of economic development.
2010 Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research and travel grant
Faculty host and Supervisor: William Clark; Gerald C. Nelson, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute and CGIAR-ESSP Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security theme leader
Mahnaz Islam
Email: mahnazislam@gmail.com
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Soil testing to promote energy efficient use of fertilizers in Bangladesh
This project explores whether availability of soil testing technology helps farmers use fertilizers more efficiently. Fertilizers play a vital role in agriculture in improving productivity but they can be a large indirect consumer of energy on a farm. In Bangladesh, agriculture remains one of the most important sectors and is characterized by a large number of small farmers. Agricultural productivity has improved over the years partly because of increased use of high yielding varieties (HYVs) and fertilizers. Yields of HYVs in particular are sensitive to inputs such as chemical fertilizer, pesticides and water and both overuse and underuse of the inputs can reduce yields. Moreover, use of fertilizers above or below the optimal level can create imbalances , soil, which harms the environment and can threaten the long-run sustainability of crop production , farm. Soil testing may be a simple solution to reduce degradation of land and to improve productivity. The results of the soil test provide information on the nutrient content of the soil which can help farmers decide which crops to plant and how much fertilizer to use. This research will study if the availability of soil testing allows farmers to make better decisions and get the most benefit per unit of indirect energy input , form of fertilizers. It will also investigate mechanisms that help farmers adopt this technology.
2010 Vickl Norberg Bohm Fellowship
Faculty advisor: Rohini Pande
Avinash Kishore
Email: avinash_kishore@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
How electricity policy affects groundwater use in India
India is the largest user of groundwater , world, much of it for irrigation. Groundwater irrigation is central to India’s farm economy. It involves 17 million farm households who pump 150 km3 of water annually to produce more than half of India’s agricultural output and support 10% of its GDP. However, in large parts of the country, the resource is threatened by overuse. The open access regime aids and abets overexploitation. Instituting property rights would be an ideal solution, but is difficult to enforce. In absence of well defined property rights, farmers ignore the scarcity rent of water when deciding on how much to extract. In this second best world, energy prices could potentially be an effective lever to reduce inefficiency. But the current policy of large energy subsidies for groundwater irrigation makes the problem worse and leads to wasteful use of energy also. Energy pricing and supply policies affect both the overall quantity of groundwater pumped and the way it is shared among millions of rich and poor farmers. Just how, remains understudied. My research will try to fill in this gap. I am interested in studying the interaction between aquifers, institutions and policies. The first question is: how do different energy supply and pricing policies affect groundwater use in different aquifer conditions? Further, there are vibrant water markets in almost all parts of India where small and marginal farmers buy water from pump-owners. Therefore, a related second question is: how do energy pricing and supply policies affect water markets and welfare of water buyers who are mostly small and marginal farmers?
2010 Vickl Norberg Bohm Fellowship
Faculty advisor: Rohini Pande
Robyn Meeks
Email: robyn_meeks@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Economics of a light bulb: Experimental evidence on CFLs and end-user behavior
Residential access to modern energy and lighting is important for development in that it improves living standards and productivity (World Bank, 2006). However, developing countries face severe constraints on available electricity, which result in blackouts and prices that can be as high as those observed in wealthier nations. , developing world, where lighting is a major component of residential electricity consumption, energy efficient technologies such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) can offer substantial savings to allow more energy services and simultaneously meet conservation goals. Still, where CFLs have been introduced in developing countries through mass replacement programs at a zero or subsidized price, their use is often discontinued once the consumer is required to pay the full price. This represents a major constraint to realizing the potential impacts of energy efficient lighting. While the initial adoption of CFLs may be limited because the willingness to pay (WTP) is lower than the market price, their continued use and the diffusion of the technology may be threatened by other factors. Namely, continued use may not occur if reductions in total electricity consumption are not attained and diffusion of the technology may be restricted if the source of information is too noisy, or if negative information on outcomes, quality, installation and maintenance requirements weighs more heavily or spreads faster than positive information. To better understand these processes, we propose a randomization methodology to inspect three mechanisms that affect the take-up and impacts of such energy efficient technologies: (1) the WTP for CFLs, (2) the "rebound" or extent to which behavioral responses to decreased electricity costs offset the technologically possible energy savings brought by CFLs, and (3) the role of “peer” networks in spreading information regarding CFLs. This project is joint with Eliana Carranza.
2010 Sustainability Science research and travel grant
Faculty advisor: Rohini Pande
Jessica Newmann
Email: jessica.m.newman@gmail.com
A.B candidate, Environmental Science and Public Policy concentration, Harvard College (Dec 2010)
Costs of action and inaction in agriculture under climate change (Denmark)
In 2006 the Stern Report made a powerful argument that the economic costs of inaction on climate change will outweigh costs of mitigation. Greenhouse gas emissions derive mostly from a few key human activities, such as combustion of fossil fuels and land use change. The forestry sector has been able to demonstrate how it might make a practicable, measurable contribution to mitigation of climate change through reduced deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), agriculture sector, simple messages are harder to come by, given the complex interplays between land use and food production, and between mitigation and adaptation. The new CGIAR-ESSP Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is rising to this challenge. CCAFS and partners are planning to submit a strong message to COP16 on the alternatives for action in agriculture, bringing to bear robust evidence and quantitative cost estimates. We seek a summer intern, conversant in economics, to identify, synthesize and critique the existing range of global, national and sub-national studies on the costs of action and inaction in agriculture. This work will deliver a critical input into the high-level paper that CCAFS hopes to present, together with a consortium of partners, in Mexico in December. The summer internship is based, international secretariat of CCAFS, in a picturesque farmhouse at the University of Copenhagen, near the city centre. The internship will not involve travel out of Copenhagen, but it will provide a high level of interaction with scholars working internationally, and the opportunity to be part of globally important analysis and policy influence on climate change. The project is coordinated by Dr Sonja Vermeulen (CCAFS), with inputs and direction from Prof Bruce Campbell (CCAFS), Prof Jerry Nelson (IFPRI) and members of the consortium of partners, among others. The intern will be an active member of the research team and , position to influence the direction of the work as it unfolds.
2010 Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research and travel grant
Faculty host and supervisor: William Clark; Sonja Vermeulen, Deputy Director, CGIAR-ESSP Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Oyebolo Olabisi
Email: Oyebola_Olabisi@hksphd.harvard.edu
Master in Public Administration in International Development, HKS (2010); PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Local governments and public goods provision in rural Kenya
Devolving the provision of basic public goods to elected local governments has been frequently advocated as a solution to corruption and clientelism in Africa. However, across the continent, such decentralization initiatives have often suffered from the same types of problems that have plagued development programs designed by central governments and donors. This research project utilizes a mix of behavioral economics experiments and randomized program evaluation to uncover the roots of political accountability and the institutional mechanisms that can promote high-quality provision of public goods by local governments in Kenya. The core element of the research design is a lottery for the distribution of a novel water treatment technology, which will be used as an opportunity to probe how politicians value discretion over the location and installation of public projects. The decision making experiments will evaluate how political competition and ethnic diversity influence politician behavior and whether or not increasing transparency and information can generate higher levels of political accountability. The implementing organization for the Politician Decision Making project is Innovations for Poverty Action-Kenya. The Principal Investigators on the project are Michael Kremer (Department of Economics, Harvard University), Ryan Sheely (Harvard Kennedy School), Vivian Hoffman (University of Maryland), and Amrita Ahuja (Sustainability Science Program, Harvard).
Responsibilities: The summer RA will assist the IPA-Kenya Enumeration Coordinator and Field Officers with the collection, management, and entry of data from the decision-making experiment, which will be rolled out during the summer. Responsibilities will include overseeing survey data collection, conducting qualitative research (focus group discussions, interviews, and participant-observation), overseeing implementation of pilot programs, and assisting with administrative tasks associated with data collection and entry.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisors: Ryan Sheely, Michael Kremer
Pietro Rabassi
Pietro Rabassi is an
Empedocle Maffia Fellow in the
Master in Public Administration Program at
Harvard's Kennedy School. Pietro graduated with merit from
Politecnico di Milano with a BSc in Management Engineering. He was a Unitech student at
French Ecole Polytechnique. As an
Alta Scuola Politecnica graduate, he holds a dual MSc degree in Management Engineering-Economics-Finance from Politecnico di Milano and Torino. Pietro is also an alumnus of
Collegio di Milano. Pietro has worked as a business consultant at the strategy consulting firm Bain & Company on projects in different sectors across Europe. He has been personal assistant to different international dignitaries during their stays in Italy such as General Colin L. Powell, Garry Kasparov and The Rt Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes. From 2008 to 2010, Pietro worked as an associate environmental affairs officer for the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva to create a financial-economic model in pollution monitoring for UNECE Member States (Europe, Central Asia and North America) and to service the different bodies of the
Aarhus Convention and the
Kiev Protocol in environmental matters. Pietro is a Junior Fellow of the
Aspen Institute Italia. Pietro is an Italian and Greek national and speaks fluently Italian, Greek, English and French. His German and Spanish are intermediate and his Russian is basic.
Email: Pietro_Rabassi@hks12.harvard.edu
Master in Public Administration candidate (2012), HKS
Empedocle Maffia Fellowship
Olga Rostopshova
Email: Olga_rostapshova@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Urban water markets and water treatment behavior in Kenya
This research focuses on the human-environment interaction of water use and treatment. It pursues two research directions: learning about the complex institutions and markets governing water use in poor urban areas and studying interventions to increase access to safe drinking water in developing countries. These interventions will include a novel water treatment technology for point-of-collection disinfection and information provision to promote water treatment. Study will focus on water landscape in urban areas, water treatment behavior of slum residents and the potential for applicability of new chlorination technology in these environments. The informal water markets in urban areas of developing countries have been poorly documented and not enough is known about the supply and demand of water, the impact of regulation and institutions on the market, pricing, water quality and household water treatment behavior. Work occurs in two urban contexts: Kisumu and Nairobi slums in Kenya, where the characteristics of the water sector are documented through comprehensive household and water source surveys and study the impact of introduction of new treatment technology on the industrial organization of the market. The effects of household level interventions on water treatment take-up are evaluated. Health benefits of many interventions depend on individual decisions to adopt and consistently adhere to certain behaviors. Despite wide availability and extensive marketing of household water treatment, take-up remains low. The effectiveness of household level information provision on water treatment benefits and avoided health costs on water use and treatment behavior are estimated.
2010 Sustainability Science research and travel grant
Faculty advisor: Michael Kremer
Determinants of success in community-level fundraising for public goods in Kenya
Many externally financed community-level infrastructure projects require some level of ongoing maintenance or operational inputs. Due to budget and capacity constraints, NGOs and governments often prefer to limit their contribution to the initial capital cost of the infrastructure, with responsibility for recurrent costs falling to community members. Community management of these projects often fails. In this project, we will use chlorine dispensers, which require refills of chlorine every two to three months, to study determinants of success in community-level fundraising for public goods. The chlorine dispenser is a newly developed system to conveniently and cheaply chlorinate water at the community level and so far, most of the chlorine dispensers that have been installed in rural communities have been provided free. We plan to use randomized impact evaluations to asses whether cost sharing for this community-level technology can be made workable. In particular, we would like to test a variety of mechanisms for increasing community success at refilling dispensers, and to study impacts of co-payment on usage rates of the chlorine dispenser. This will allow us to identify whether community co-payment is a good screening mechanism for placement of community infrastructure, whether community-based cost-recovery is a viable financing mechanism and what methods of increasing the community's ability to keep the dispenser stocked with chlorine are most effective. More broadly, this will allow the evaluation of various factors that could impact the sustainability of community based point of collection water treatment and shed light on factors tat influence community contribution to public goods.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisor: Michael Kremer
Chiara Salghini
Email: chiara_salghini@hks11.harvard.edu
Master in Public Administration candidate (2011), HKS
Empedocle Maffia Fellowship
Timothy Treuer
Email: truer@fas.harvard.edu; andrias88@gmail.com
A.B., Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard College (2010)
Impacts of human land use on nymphalid butterfly assemblages
This research addresses how complex communities are affected by historical and ongoing neivonrmental disturbance. Area Conservación de Guanacaste (ACG) comprises approximately 2% of Costa Rica and contains over 6,000 plant species and an estimated 15,000 species of butterflies and moths (Order: Lepidoptera). ACC encompasses a huge variety of habitat types, diverse both along a natural ecological spectrum (marine zones, dry forest, riparian forest, rainforest, cloud forests and all their intergrades are represented) and a spectrum of historical and ongoing environmental disturbance. The latter gradient is most strikingly seen in the drier habitats, where conditions still range from fire-prone, invasive jaragua pasture to highly diverse and largely pristine dry forest. The single largest ongoing research project at ACG is a multi-year effort to document every species of Lepidoptera and Lepidopteran parasitoid through the collection of wild caterpillars, the rearing of those caterpillars to adulthood (or until emergence of parasitoids) and finally the preservation and genetic 'barcoding' (sequencing of the mitochondrial CO1 gene) of those butterflies and moths. This research uses a framework provided by the gradient of environmental conditions seen in the park to answer the question of how these complex communities are affected by the historical and ongoing environmental disturbance. Collecting caterpillar in the dry habitats around Santa Rosa at the heart of conservation area will help to determine the impacts of land degradation and passive and active restoration on the diversity and viability of the Lepidopteran community. This will be done by working with teams of 'gusañeros' (local parataxonomists) to collect caterpillars and samples of their host plants from plots that represent the full gradient of dry forest conditions, including recently burned jaragua pasture, recovering secondary forest and primary dry forest. Basic environmental data will be recorded (with a focus on the microclimatic variables of temperature, relative humidity and sun exposure) for each plot, caterpillars will be reared to adulthood and they and their host plants will be identified to species. This work, combined with data mined from the ACG database, will be enough to paint a clear picture of the patterns of Lepidopteran diversity in dry forest and historically or currently degraded dry forest habitat, to begin answering the question of what the risk, vulnerability and resilience of this tremendous diverse and ecologically important Order are in the face of human disturbance. By understanding the impacts of human land use on systems hyperdiverse groups like this that the scientific community can begin to discuss the true sustainability of what Dan Janzen* terms an 'anthroecosystem', which he defines as those "large conserved wildlands that are developed for their biodiversity and ecosystem services in a non-damaging way".
2010 Land and Water Initiative research and travel grant
Faculty advisor: N. Michele Holbrook
Jessica Vernon
Email: jessicavernon@gmail.com
Chlorine dispenser scale-up and local government accountability in Kenya
Conduct data gathering, data anlaysis and writing tasks to support work on understanding local government choices around expenditures and allocation of water infrastructure, sustainable financing and management of water infrastructure and dissemination of results coming out of the water and development project.
2010 Research Assistant
Faculty advisors: Ryan Sheely, Michael Kremer
Elizabeth Walker
Email: elizabeth_walker@hksphd.harvard.edu
PhD candidate, Public Policy Program, HKS
Sustainable provision of clean drinking water in rural areas of Kenya
Chlorine is effective at disinfecting water, and also at protecting against recontamination for 12-24 hours after treatment. Prior work suggests that in rural areas, water is treated not once a day, as recommended, but only once or twice a week. This research explores ways to understand whether or not this is a significant problem. We explore a range of behavioral and technological options to try to address this issue – ranging from encouraging people to treat more frequently to investigating the use of alternative storage containers which may hold chlorine residual longer, and hence provide protection against re-contamination for longer. The position requires field work in Kenya to help determine the design of randomized impact evaluations related to understanding different financing and maintenance mechanisms for dispensers, a newly developed system to conveniently and cheaply chlorinate water at the community water source. This will potentially include work on long-term endowment type models of financing, local government financing and community financing. This will also potentially include work on different ways to structure incentives for and monitor community members responsible for keeping the dispenser stocked.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisor: Michael Kremer
Vinod Yadav
Email: vinod_yadav@hks11.harvard.edu
Master in Public Administration in International Development candidate, HKS (2011)
Improving industrial pollution inspection standards in Gujarat, India
Rapid industrial growth in emerging economies, especially China and India, has greatly improved the living standards of the average citizen but wrought widespread environmental damage. For example, high levels of particulate matter air pollution in urban India are associated with sharply higher mortality, and improper disposal of waste effluent can taint drinking water supplies and affect agricultural productivity. Low institutional capacity or poor implementation, however, may make environmental regulation itself a poor check on environmental harms. Sustainable development will require a way of monitoring and penalizing industrial pollution so that the firms driving the country's future growth face private incentives aligned with social benefits. A summer field RA will work on an ongoing randomized evaluation of industrial pollution control regulations based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India to evaluate the impact of inspection frequency and improved third-party environmental audits on industrial compliance with environmental standards. The project is run by professors Rohini Pande (Harvard), Esther Duflo (MIT) and Michael Greenstone (MIT). Work will include coordinating intervention details with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and other local partner organizations, monitoring implementation of project interventions, and managing entry and cleaning of incoming data on industrial pollution. Duties will require frequent travel to project sites within Gujarat.
2010 SSP Faculty Research Assistant grant
Faculty advisor: Rohini Pande
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