Thanks to generous funding from the Sloan Foundation (since 2016 and the University of the UC President prior), we have held eleven summer schools in environmental and energy economics on the Berkeley Campus. The goal of the summer school is to provide doctoral students nationwide, who have completed the core first year microeconomics and econometrics requirement with an overview of the most important and current topics in various areas of the fields of environmental and energy economics. It is designed to help early career students identify promising dissertation projects. The instructors’ expertise covers a range of important topics in the field. 

 

2024 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

The Berkeley Summer School has been funded (thank you Sloan Foundation!) and will take place from August 19-23 in person in Berkeley. The goal of the summer school is to provide doctoral students enrolled in a North American Ph.D. program, who have completed the core first year microeconomics and econometrics requirement with an overview of the most important and current topics in various areas of the fields of environmental and energy economics. Previous incarnations of this summer school have helped first year students identify promising dissertation projects. The instructors’ expertise covers a range of important topics.

The summer school will start on Monday (8/19) morning at 9 am with a welcome breakfast for the attendees. Each day there will be two 3 hour lectures (morning or afternoon), a one hour lunch and some egg timers. There is no tuition, but space is limited. Students are expected to attend all sessions.

To apply for the summer school, you must be a registered PhD student in an economics department, business or policy school and have completed their first year of coursework. Only PhD students from or in universities in North America (Canada/USA/Mexico) are eligible to apply. The application form is posted here [We are using a new interface, so if there is trouble, shoot Max an email (auffhammer at berkeley dot edu)]. A faculty member at your university (possibly your advisor, if you have one) also has to fill out this brief recommendation form here.. The application deadline is April 30th). Notifications will be sent by May 10.

2024 Confirmed Lineup

Marshall Burke, Stanford
Fiona Burlig, Chicago
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley
Teevrat Garg, UC San Diego
Allan Hsiao, Princeton
Koichiro Ito, Chicago
Lala Ma, Kentucky
Joseph Shapiro, UC Berkeley
Catherine Wolfram, MIT

2023 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Maximilian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley
Susanna Berkouwer, Wharton
Lucas Davis, UC Berkeley
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley
Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley
Joseph Shapiro, UC Berkeley
Katherine Wagner, UBC
Tevvrat Garg, UCSD
James Sallee, UC Berkeley

2022 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley - Equity and Efficiency in Utility Rate Design
Fiona Burlig, University of Chicago - Energy & the Environment in the Developing World
Tamma Carleton, UC Santa Barbara - The Social Cost of Carbon: Theory, Policy, and Empirics
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley - Economics of Wildfire
Teevrat Garg, UC San Diego - Environment and Economic Development
Catherine Kling, Cornell University - The Social Cost of Water Pollution
LaLa Ma, University of Kentucky - Environmental Justice
Joseph Shapiro, UC Berkeley - Geography and the Environment
Reed Walker, UC Berkeley - Air Pollution Costs and Benefits

2021 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Severin Borenstein, University of California Berkeley - How electricity rates are made and why they are mostly wrong.
Fiona Burlig, University of Chicago - Energy and/or environment in the developing world
Meghan Busse, Northwestern University - Identification! & Consumer Choice in Transportation
Chris Costello, University of California Santa Barbara - Natural Resource Economics
Catherine Hausman, University of Michigan - Environmental Justice
Koichiro Ito, University of Chicago - Demand Estimation in Energy and Environmental Economics
Cathy Kling, Cornell University - Something about the fact that water has value
John List, University of Chicago - Field Experiments
Joe Shapiro, University of California Berkeley - Trade, Energy, and the Environment

2020 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

John List, University of Chicago - Field Experiments
Mar Reguant, Northwestern University - Electricity Markets
Meredith Fowlie, University of California Berkeley - Carbon pricing/cap-and-trade
Koichiro Ito, University of Chicago - Demand Estimation in Energy and Environmental Economics
Fiona Burlig, University of Chicago - Energy and/or environment in the developing world
Catherine Hausman, University of Michigan - Environmental Justice
Joe Shapiro, University of California Berkeley - Trade, Energy, and the Environment
Wolfram Schlenker, Columbia University - Level versus growth effects in climate assessments
Paulina Oliva, University of Southern California - Dynamic behavior and estimation in environmental economics


2019 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Maximilian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley - Economic Damages From Climate Change
Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley - Issues in Energy Market Structure and Pricing
Meghan Busse, Northwestern University - Consumer Choice in Transportation
Janet Currie, Princeton University - Pollution and Health
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley - Carbon Pricing in the Real World
Kelsey Jack, UC Santa Barbara - Environmental Economics in Developing Countries
Ryan Kellogg, University of Chicago - Resource Extraction Economics
Koichiro Ito, University of Chicago - Electricity Demand Estimation
Joseph Shapiro, UC Berkeley - Trade, Energy, and the Environment

2018 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Lint Barrage, Brown University - Environmental Macroeconomics
Meghan Busse, Northwestern University
Lucas Davis, UC Berkeley - Regulation of Natural Monopoly
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley - Changing economics of electricity markets
Solomon Hsiang, UC Berkeley - Pricing the Climate
Seema Jayachandran, Northwestern - Natural Resource Economics in Developing Countries
Ryan Kellogg, University of Chicago - Resource Extraction Economics
John List, University of Chicago - Field Experiments in Environmental and Resource Economics
James Sallee, UC Berkeley - Can We Have our Cake and Eat it Too? Equity and Efficiency when Correcting Externalities


2017 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley: Fundamentals of Electricity Regulation and Deregulation
James Bushnell, University of California, Davis: Electricity Markets in the 21st Century
Meghan Busse, Northwestern University: Consumer Choice in Transportation
Chris Costello, University of California, Santa Barbara: Spatial Natural Resource Economics
Michael Greenstone, University of Chicago: Hedonics
Koichiro Ito, University of Chicago: Electricity Demand Estimation
Arik Levinson, Georgetown University: Efficacy, Efficiency, and Equity in Energy Economics
James Sallee, University of California, Berkeley: Second-Best Policy Design
Catherine Wolfram, University of California, Berkeley:  Energy in the Developing World
 

2016 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Joe Aldy, Harvard University: Economics of Climate Policy
Meghan Busse, Northwestern University: Consumer Choice in Transportation
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley: Field Experiments in Energy and Environmental Economics
Lucas Davis, UC Berkeley: Regulation of Natural Monopoly
Chris Knittel, MIT: Economics of Transportation Fuels
Nicolai Kuminoff, Arizona State: Estimating Amenity Demand from Consumer Sorting Behavior
Mar Reguant, Northwestern University: Economics of Electricity Markets
James Sallee, University of California Berkeley: Regulating Energy Efficiency
Catherine Wolfram, University of California Berkeley:  Energy in the Developing World
 

2014 Berkeley Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Maximilian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley: Economics of Biofuels
James Wilen, UC Davis: Fisheries
Matthew Kahn, UCLA: China, Cities and the Environment
Solomon Hsiang, UC Berkeley: Climate Impacts Estimation
David Anthoff, UC Berkeley: Integrated Assessment Modeling
Aaron Smith, UC Davis: Econometrics of Commodity Prices    
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley: Renewable Energy Economics
David Sunding, UC Berkeley: Water Institutions and Economics
Erich Muehlegger, UC Davis: Regulation of Energy Industries    
 

2013 Berkeley Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Chris Costello, UC Santa Barbara: Fisheries
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley: Cap and Trade I    
James Bushnell, UC Davis: Cap and Trade II
Matthew Kahn, UCLA: China and the Environment
Mark Jacobsen, UC San Diego: Taxation
Lucas Davis, UC Berkeley: Energy Efficiency
David Rapson, UC Davis: RCTs in Energy Economics
Catherine Wolfram, UC Berkeley: Energy and Development
Maximilian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley: Forecasting in Energy and Env. Economics
 

2012 Berkeley Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Catherine Wolfram, UC Berkeley: Regulatory Policy Issues in Energy
Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley: Economics of Alternative Energy    
Lucas Davis, UC Berkeley: Environmental Markets
James Bushnell, UC Davis: Electricity Markets and Institutions
Pauline Oliva, UC Santa Barbara: Economics of Air Pollution
James Hamilton, UC San Diego: Energy Prices and Real Activity
Josh Graff-Zivin, UC San Diego: Environment and Development
Maximilian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley: Climate Change Impacts Estimation
Olivier Deschenes, UC Santa Barbara: Labor, Health and Env. Quality
 

2011 Inaugural Berkeley Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics

Catherine Wolfram, UC Berkeley: Regulatory Policy Issues in Energy
Lucas Davis, UC Berkeley: Environmental Markets
Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley: Economics of Alternative Energy
Ken Small, UC Irvine: Transportation: Introduction and Pricing
Mark Jacobsen, UC San Diego: Transportation: Gasoline Use and Policy
Maximilian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley: Economics of Energy Efficiency
Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley: Economics of Cap and Trade
Charles Kolstad, UC Santa Barbara: International Environmental Agreements
Matthew Kahn, UCLA: Climate Change Adaptation