Welcome to the Harvard Environmental Economics Program (HEEP), the newest of a diverse and growing set of Harvard initiatives in the environmental area.  HEEP is a University-wide program sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment and housed at the Center for Business and Government.  The program brings together faculty and graduate students from across the University engaged in research, teaching, and outreach efforts in environmental and natural resource economics and related public policy, and serves as a launching point for new efforts.

Harvard has tremendous strength in environmental and natural resource economics, with that capability spread across many units of the University, including the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,  the Kennedy School, the School of Public Health, the Business School, the Graduate School of Design, and the Law School.  The Environmental Economics Program has 17 Faculty Fellows with great expertise and international reputations in the area of environmental and natural resource economics, including senior faculty members who now hold or have held important positions at the President's Council of Economic Advisors, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences, the World Health Organization, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  In addition, the Faculty Fellows group contains some of the brightest young talent in the field.

Just a small sample of topics addressed by HEEP Faculty Fellows would include such pressing issues as:  global climate change, the use of incentive-based or market-based instruments for pollution control, new methods of valuing risk reduction, the relationship between globalization  and the environment, the role of environmental considerations in business decision making, and the intersection of economic development and environmental protection.

This unique degree of faculty expertise is complemented by an exceptional group of doctoral students who serve as Pre-Doctoral Fellows within the Program.  HEEP is not a degree-granting program; rather, students pursuing the Ph.D. degree in economics, political economy and government, public policy, or health policy, and whose dissertation interests are focused on environmental and natural resource economics are invited to become Pre-Doctoral Fellows.  In addition to working closely with the Faculty Fellows, and attending the regular Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy, the Pre-Doctoral Fellows have their own Research Lunch Seminar which allows graduate students to benefit from each other's experience.

Doctorate recipients who have focused on environmental and resource economics at Harvard, have received offers to become assistant professors at such institutions as Yale University, the University of California at Berkeley, Dartmouth College, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Maryland, and Harvard University.  Others have received offers to become fellows at leading think tanks, such as Resources for the Future, or to join organizations such as the World Bank.

I invite you to learn more about the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.  This web site is designed to provide you with information about Harvard's expertise in this area and information about opportunities for graduate study.  You’ll find information on:

• Faculty Fellows
• Pre-Doctoral Fellows
• Ph.D. programs
• Courses (including bachelor’s, masters, doctoral, and executive education)
• New working papers, journal articles, and books
• Ongoing research projects
• News and Events
• Additional links of interest

I believe you’ll be impressed by the breadth and depth of Harvard’s expertise in the area of environmental economics.  If you have any questions about the program, please feel free to contact me or Gernot Wagner, a Ph.D. student in Political Economy and Government, who is the Program Coordinator for the Environmental Economics Program at Harvard Unviersity.

Best Regards,

Robert N. Stavins
Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Kennedy School
Director, Harvard Environmental Economics Program