fbpx Job Market Candidates | Harvard Kennedy School

Our recent PhD in Public Policy (PPOL) graduates have taken academic positions at Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard Business School, New York University, Penn State University, Princeton University, Tufts University, University of California, San Diego, and Yale University.

Others developed analyst or policy careers at the Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Millennium Challenge Corporation, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, and several nongovernmental organizations.

Contact our Placement Directors Matthew Baum (political science) and Marcella Alsan (economics) or the Doctoral Programs Director Nicole Tateosian if you have questions about our PPOL candidates listed below who are entering the job market.


Layane Alhorr

Job market paper title: Virtual Windows through Glass Walls? Digitization for Mobility-Constrained Female Entrepreneurs
Fields: Development and labor economics, entrepreneurship, gender
Committee: Rema Hanna (chair), Emily Breza, Edward Glaeser, Tavneet Suri (MIT Sloan)

Marcos Barrozo

Job market paper title: Market Power and Carbon Emissions in the Amazon
Fields: Environmental economics, international economics, industrial organization
Committee: Joseph Aldy (chair), Gordon Hanson, Marc Melitz

Jacob Bradt

Job market paper title: A Policy by Any Other Name: Unconventional Industrial Policy in the U.S. Residential Solar Industry
Fields: Environmental economics (primary); industrial organization (secondary)
Committee: Joseph Aldy (chair), Myrto KalouptsidiRobin S. LeeAriel Pakes

Ben Berger

Job market paper title: How Do Health Systems Capitalize on Public Programs? Side Effects of the 340B Drug Pricing Program
Fields: Health, innovation, public economics
Committee: Amitabh Chandra (chair), David CutlerMark Shepard

Tridevi Chakma

Job market paper title: The Causes and Consequences of Urban Heat Islands
Fields: Environmental economics, public economics
Committee: Nathaniel Hendren (co-chair), Joseph Aldy (co-chair), Marcella Alsan

Robert French

Job market paper title: Gentrification or Neighborhood Revitalization: Quantifying the Welfare Effects of Neighborhood Change on Low-Income Incumbent Residents
Fields: Public economics, urban economics, applied microeconomics  
Committee: Gordon Hanson (chair), Edward Glaeser, Mark Shepard, Stefanie Stantcheva, Matthew Weinzierl

Valentine Gilbert

Job market paper title: Can Suburban Housing Improve Urban Affordability? Evidence from Residential Vacancy Chains
Fields: Labor, public, urban
Committee: Edward Glaeser (chair), Adrien BilalStefanie Stantcheva

Alice Heath

Job market paper title: Government Reactions to Local News: Evidence From Child Protection Tragedies
Fields: Labor economics, public economics, and health economics
Committee: Jeffrey Liebman (chair), Marcella Alsan, David CutlerMark Shepard

Eleanor Krause

Job market paper title: Job Loss, Selective Migration, and the Accumulation of Disadvantage: Evidence from Appalachia’s Coal Country
Fields: Public, environmental, labor economics
Committee: Gordon Hanson (chair), Joseph AldyEdward Glaeser

Molly Moore

Job market paper title: The Contingent Reputational Benefits of Selective Exposure to Partisan Information
Fields: Judgment and decision making, experimental economics
Committee: Julia Minson (chair), Christine Exley, Jennifer Lerner

Laura Morris

Job market paper title: Impact Evaluation, Welfare Comparisons and the Value of Public Funds
Fields: Development economics, public economics
Committee: Nathaniel Hendren (chair), Rema HannaAnders Jensen

Melanie Rucinski

Job market paper title: The Effects of Economic Conditions on the Labor Market for Teachers
Fields: Labor, education
Committee: Christopher Avery (chair), David DemingMartin West

Emma Rackstraw

Job market paper title: When Reality TV Creates Reality: How "Copaganda" Affects Viewers, Police, and Communities
Fields: Labor, inequality/discrimination
Committee: Will Dobbie (chair), Desmond Ang, Lawrence Katz, Crystal Yang

Averell Schmidt

Job market paper title: Damaged Relations: How Treaty Withdrawal Impacts International Cooperation
Fields: International relations, methods
Committee: Kathryn Sikkink (chair), Christina Davis, Kosuke Imai

Emma Smith

Job market paper title: Stigma and Social Cover: A Mental Health Care Experiment in Refugee Networks
Fields: Development, behavioral
Committee: Rema Hanna (chair), Emily BrezaEdward MiguelGautam Rao

Ke Wang

Job market paper title: Can a Brief Reappraisal Intervention Durably Improve Essential Workers’ Well-being?
Fields: Judgment and decision making, organizational behavior
Committee: Jennifer Lerner (chair), Amit Goldenberg, James Gross