Wolfram Schlenker is the Ray A. Goldberg Professor of the Global Food System at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he directs the Global Food Systems Program. His research examines the effects of weather and climate change on agricultural yields and human migration, how climate trends and the U.S. biofuel mandate influence agricultural commodity prices, and the ways in which air and water pollution affect both crop yields and human health. His work has appeared in leading journals in economics and the natural sciences, including the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies, Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and his studies of the nonlinear effects of extreme heat on crop yields have become a foundation for empirical research on the impacts of climate change on agriculture.
Prior to joining Harvard in 2024, Professor Schlenker spent nearly two decades on the faculty of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he served as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and co-directed the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy (CEEP). Recognized for his mentorship, he received SIPA's Outstanding Teaching Award as well as the Outstanding Adviser Award in Columbia's Sustainable Development Ph.D. program, and he has advised more than thirty doctoral students who have gone on to positions in academia, government, and international organizations. He previously held an assistant professorship at the University of California, San Diego, and visiting appointments at Princeton University, Stanford University, École Polytechnique, and the University of Zurich.
In addition to his academic appointments, Professor Schlenker is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), where he serves on the steering committee of the Environmental and Energy Economics program; a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); and a Research Associate at the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim. He served on the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science from 2016 to 2025 and was a contributing author of the economics chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley (2003), an M.S. in Engineering and Management Science (Diplom in Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen) from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany (2000), and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University (1998).
For more information on his published work and ongoing research, please visit Professor Schlenker's personal website.
Academic Journal/Scholarly Articles
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Outside Professional Activities For Wolfram Schlenker
| Organization | Relationship |
|---|---|
| University of California Berkeley | Research or teaching appointment |
| Brookings Institution | Editorial services |
| National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) | Paid external reviewer |