phd harvard business economics

• Harvard Business School →
• Doctoral Programs →
• PhD Programs
• Accounting & Management

Business Economics

• Health Policy (Management)
• Organizational Behavior
• Technology & Operations Management
• Program Requirements

Curriculum & Coursework

Research dissertation, areas of specialization.

• Behavioral Economics
• Development
• Econometrics
• Economic Theory
• Economics of Organization
• Entrepreneurship
• Industrial Organization
• International Economics
• Labor Economics
• Macroeconomics

Fanele Mashwama

Sagar Saxena

“ HBS is the ideal environment because I get to think about the world like an economist, but I have the freedom and resources to draw on methods from other disciplines as I study market design and industrial organization. ”

Current Harvard Economics Faculty

• Pol Antràs
• Robert Barro
• Emily Breza
• John Y. Campbell
• Raj Chetty
• Gabriel Chodorow-Reich
• Richard Cooper
• David M. Cutler
• Melissa Dell
• Karen Dynan
• Benjamin Enke
• Richard B. Freeman
• Benjamin M. Friedman
• Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
• Xavier Gabaix
• Edward Glaeser
• Claudia Goldin
• Benjamin Golub
• Gita Gopinath
• Oliver Hart
• Elhanan Helpman
• Dale Jorgenson
• Myrto Kalouptsidi
• Maximilian Kasy
• Lawrence Katz
• Gabriel Kreindler
• David Laibson
• Robin S. Lee
• N. Gregory Mankiw
• Stephen Marglin
• Eric S. Maskin
• Marc Melitz
• Jeffrey Miron
• Ariel Pakes
• Amanda Pallais
• Matthew Rabin
• Gautam Rao
• Kenneth Rogoff
• Amartya Sen
• Neil Shephard
• Andrei Shleifer
• Stefanie Stantcheva
• Jeremy Stein
• James Stock
• Ludwig Straub
• Tomasz Strzalecki
• Lawrence H. Summers
• Elie Tamer
• Winnie Van Dijk
• David Yang

Current HBS Faculty

• Laura Alfaro
• Samuel B. Antill
• Brian K. Baik
• Malcolm P. Baker
• John Beshears
• Katherine B. Coffman
• Lauren H. Cohen
• Shawn A. Cole
• Joshua D. Coval
• Mihir A. Desai
• Mark L. Egan
• Benjamin C. Esty
• C. Fritz Foley
• Stuart C. Gilson
• Paul A. Gompers
• Jerry R. Green
• Shane M. Greenstein
• Robin Greenwood
• Brian J. Hall
• Samuel G. Hanson
• Victoria Ivashina
• Ebehi Iyoha
• Robert S. Kaplan
• William R. Kerr
• Scott Duke Kominers
• Jacqueline Ng Lane
• Josh Lerner
• Michael Luca
• Alexander J. MacKay
• Edward McFowland III
• David A. Moss
• Ramana Nanda
• Matthew Rabin
• Forest L. Reinhardt
• Edward J. Riedl
• Raffaella Sadun
• William A. Sahlman
• David S. Scharfstein
• Joshua R. Schwartzstein
• Arthur I Segel
• Emil N. Siriwardane
• Ariel D. Stern
• Adi Sunderam
• Boris Vallee
• Luis M. Viceira
• Matthew C. Weinzierl
• Dennis A. Yao

Current Business Economics Students

• Maxim Alekseev
• Martin Aragoneses
• Sage Belz
• Michael Blank
• Fiona Chen
• Jiafeng (Kevin) Chen
• Cameron Cohen
• Jorge Colmenares
• Terry Culpepper
• Songyuan Ding
• Jo Ellery
• Simon Essig Aberg
• Toren Fronsdal
• Jacob Furst
• Jeffrey Gortmaker
• Shlok Goyal
• Helene Hall
• Ruru (Juan Ru) Hoong
• Catherine Huang
• Baiyun Jing
• Nathan Kaplan
• Justin Katz
• Lev Klarnet
• Shira Li
• Angela Ma
• Alex Magnuson
• Fanele Mashwama
• Marcela Mello
• Laura Nicolae
• Lauren Rice
• Maya Roy
• Dominic Russel
• Kunal Sangani
• Claire Shi
• Wilbur Townsend
• Jennifer Walsh
• Andi Wang
• Alex Wu
• Hanbin Yang
• Jeffrey Yang
• Jennifer Zou

Current HBS Faculty & Students by Interest

Recent placement, john conlon, 2023, erica moszkowski, 2023, ran zhuo, 2023, matthew lilley, 2022, david zhang, 2022, karen shen, 2021, ravi jagadeesan, 2020, vitaly bord, 2019, weiling liu, 2019, anastassia fedyk, 2018, spencer yongwook kwon, 2023, daniel ramos, 2023, francesca bastianello, 2022, frank pinter, 2022, andreas schaab, 2021, edoardo maria acabbi, 2020, michael thaler, 2020, oren danieli, 2019, janelle schlossberger, 2019, yueran ma, 2018, robert minton, 2023, sagar saxena, 2023, talia b. gillis, 2022, ron yang, 2022, gregor schubert, 2021, xiang ding, 2020, christopher anderson, 2019, yizhou jin, 2019, william diamond, 2018, neil thakral, 2018.

Business Economics

Jointly administered by HBS and the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, students in the program are both economics and business school students, receiving the benefits of a PhD from Harvard’s world-class Economics Department along with specialized access to HBS faculty and resources.  The program combines theoretical analysis with in-depth, interdisciplinary research rooted in real-world applications.

• Academics /

Business Economics Graduate Certificate

Learn how to integrate economic principles and business concepts.

Get Started

No Application Required

Online and On Campus Options

Number of Required Courses

What You'll Learn

• Understanding of current economic issues and economic principles and methods, including real-world applications and elements of microeconomics and macroeconomics.
• Knowledge of economic perspective on the nature, scale, and organization of businesses and the role of information and transaction costs in internal and external markets.
• Deepened knowledge in focused topic areas, such as labor economics, economics of financial markets, economic strategy and competitiveness, and economics of emerging markets.

Our Community at a Glance

Together with your diverse peers, you can advance a career in business, finance, a multinational corporation, trade, or international development.

Average Age

Working Full Time

Students Outside the U.S.

Average Time to Complete

Certificate Courses

The professional graduate certificate in Business Economics requires four courses.

You may choose from the following course groups, using the certificate course search:

• Principles of Economics (choose one course from this group)
• Microeconomics (choose one course from this group)
• Electives (choose any two courses from this group)

Search for Courses

Find certificate courses by term — fall, spring, or summer — in the DCE Course Search and Registration platform.

Upcoming Term: Summer 2024

Summer course registration is open through June 20. Learn more about how to register →

Fall 2024 courses and registration details will be live in June.

Earning Your Certificate

To meet the requirements for the certificate, you must:

• Complete the  four certificate courses for graduate credit .
• Earn at least a  B grade  in each course.
• Complete the courses within three years .

Learn more about  pursuing a certificate  and the process of  requesting your certificate .

Affordability is core to our mission. When compared to our continuing education peers, it’s a fraction of the cost.

This graduate certificate stacks to the following degrees:

• Finance Master’s Degree Program
• Management Master’s Degree Program

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

• Utility Menu

Subscribe to our mailing list Subscribe to Robert Stavins' blog Environmental Insights Podcast

Ph.D. Programs

The Harvard Environmental Economics Program (HEEP) does not grant degrees. Rather, students pursue a Ph.D. degree in Economics, Business Economics, Business Administration, Political Economy and Government, Public Policy, or Health Policy. Those whose dissertation interests focus on environmental and natural resource economics are invited to become Pre-Doctoral Fellows of HEEP.

If you are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. degree at Harvard focused on environmental economics, we encourage you to contact one or more of the following doctoral programs directly.

The Economics Ph.D.  program is the most traditional route for students interested in environmental economics. It is recommended for those applicants who wish to pursue an academic career in an economics department. It is one possible path for students who desire academic positions in professional schools or research positions in national or international agencies and research centers. The program is based in Harvard University’s Department of Economics in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. For general information about the Department, see its website . The Doctoral Program—including admissions requirements— is described here .

Business Economics

The Business Economics Ph.D.  program is offered jointly by the Department of Economics , in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Harvard Business School, and combines economic analysis with practical aspects of business. This degree is primarily intended to prepare students for careers in research and teaching in business administration and related fields of economics. The general management approach of the Harvard Business School is an important ingredient in the program. For more information on the Business Economics program and for admissions requirements, please see the  Business Economics website.

Health Policy

The Health Policy Ph.D.  program is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Kennedy School of Government, the Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Students interested in environmental economics should consider the “Economics” track of the program. This program is recommended for students with a particular interest in the intersection of health and environmental policy and who desire academic and/or research careers in health policy. For more information on the Health Policy program and for admissions requirements please see the Health Policy website.

Political Economy and Government

The Political Economy and Government  (PEG) program is co-sponsored by the  Department of Economics and the  Department of Government in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences —and the Harvard Kennedy School . The PEG program is appropriate for the select group of students whose breadth of academic interests is not well served by doctoral studies confined to economics, political science, or public policy. The program is recommended for students whose research interests span the intersection of economics and political science and who desire academic careers in professional schools or research careers with national or international agencies and research centers. For more information on the PEG program and for admissions requirements, please see the program’s web page.  

Public Policy

The Ph.D. in Public Policy  is granted by the  Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and administered by the Harvard Kennedy School . This program is recommended for students who are interested in environmental economics as applied to the policy world and whose career goals include academic careers in professional schools, research positions in national or international agencies and research centers, or professional positions of various kinds in policy organizations. For more information on the Public Policy program and for admissions requirements and materials please see the program’s web site.

• Harvard Courses & Seminars

Master in Public Administration

Prepare for greater responsibility across sectors with this flexible two-year program

Key Program Information

Program Length: Two years (varies for students pursuing concurrent degrees)

Degree Awarded: Master in Public Administration

Admission Application Deadline: December 2024

Financial Aid Application Deadline: January 2025

Contact the MPA Program

79 John F. Kennedy Street Littauer Building, Room 126 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Elevate your impact as a public leader

The Master in Public Administration Program is for aspiring leaders with real-world experience and graduate-level coursework in economics, public policy, or management.

The Master in Public Administration (MPA) curriculum is flexible. You create a study plan that reflects your academic interests, focuses on your personal and professional aspirations, and integrates across disciplines.

You may also decide to pursue a concurrent degree in business, law, medicine, or other professional fields. You’ll earn two degrees in less time and acquire even more skills you can use to make a difference in the world.

“HKS provided opportunities for me to expand the narrative of what diversity looks like in foreign policy and foreign service.” —Korde Innis MPA 2023

About the MPA Program

The MPA curriculum is flexible. You’ll create your own 64-credit study plan that reflects your academic interests and professional aspirations.

As an MPA student, you’ll take eight credits in a Policy Area of Concentration as well as four credits in each of these key areas:

• Economics and Quantitative Analysis
• Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences
• Public Ethics and Political Institutions

You’ll select your remaining credits to support your unique intellectual and professional objectives. You can take classes across academic disciplines at HKS and cross-register into courses at other Harvard graduate schools as well as at MIT Sloan School of Management and The Fletcher School at Tufts University. 

Sample Courses

• MLD-223: Negotiating Across Differences
• API-135: Economics of Climate Change and Environmental Policy
• DPI-640: Technology and the Public Interest: From Democracy to Technocracy and Back

Concurrent Degrees

You might consider  pursuing a second degree concurrently  if you’re interested in how the world’s public challenges can be addressed at the intersection of business, law, medicine, design, or other fields.

Pursuing a concurrent degree reduces coursework and residency requirements and makes it possible to earn two degrees in a shorter amount of time.

Concurrent degree students complete 48 credits at HKS, including four credits in each of the key areas:

Concurrent degree students are not required to fulfill the Policy Area of Concentration requirement.

Degree Requirements

The MPA Program consists of four semesters of full-time coursework in residence at HKS.

To graduate, you must:

• Earn at least 64 credits
• Finish with a GPA of B or better
• Earn a B- or higher in all courses counting towards the distribution requirements
• Matriculate as a full-time, in-residence student and take between 12-20 credits per semester
• Fulfill a Policy Area of Concentration requirement by taking eight credits in one of the policy areas at HKS
• Economics and Quantitative Analysis

HKS  faculty members  are among the most influential leaders and thinkers in their fields. They have contributed vital research and scholarship to their fields. Served in U.S. administrations. Founded learning labs to assist local communities. Led negotiations to reduce nuclear stockpiles. Reported on human rights abuses. Led efforts to address climate change. Advised governments and companies on gender equality.

They are doers as well as thinkers, shaping public policy and devising entrepreneurial approaches to public problems at the local, national, and international levels.  

MPA Faculty Chair

Kessely Hong

Mpa at a glance.

*Statistics are based on a five-year average.

Employment Snapshot:  MPA Class of 2023 Employment Sectors

* The number of private sector jobs secured by MPA graduates is, in large part, a reflection of the program’s many concurrent degree graduates.

Featured MPA stories

Elevating the stories of diverse, unsung women.

Jamie Mittleman MPA 2022 launched her COVID-adapted dream job: a platform for women Olympians and Paralympians.

A long military heritage shapes a desire for peace

Clark Yuan MPA 2022 wants unique perspectives to have a seat at the table when critical decisions are being made.

From Santiago to Cambridge to Paris

For Ingrid Olea MPA 2020, a journey that started with a career change has led to remarkable achievements in education policymaking.

Applying to the MPA Program

Prerequisites.

There are specific academic and professional prerequisites required to apply to the MPA Program. You must have:

• A bachelor’s degree with a strong academic record 
• Three years of professional work experience by September 1 of the year you would enroll in the program
• Master of Business Administration
• Master of International Business
• Master of International Development
• Master of International Economics
• Master of Science in Engineering

How to Apply

A complete application to the MPA Program includes the following: 

• Online application
• Three letters of recommendation
• GRE or GMAT required
• Non-native English speakers who did not earn an undergraduate degree conducted in English must submit results of the TOEFL, IELTS, or Cambridge English exam
• Academic transcripts
• $100 application fee or waiver

Read more about how to apply . 

The application for the 2025-2026 academic year will be available in September 2024. There is one admission application deadline and one start date for each degree program per year. You may apply to only one master's degree program per admissions cycle. 

Tuition & Fees

The cost of attendance for the 2024-2025 academic year is outlined in  Funding Your Master ’ s Education  to help you plan financially for our master’s degree programs. Living expense costs are based on residence in Cambridge. The 2025-2026 academic year rates will be published in March 2025. HKS tuition and fees are subject to change without notice. 

At HKS, we consider financing your education to be a partnership and are here to help guide you. We encourage you to explore all opportunities for funding .

Learn more about the HKS community

Student life, student stories, admissions & financial aid blog.

• International

University protests

Trump's hush money trial

April 25, 2024 - US university protests

By Elise Hammond, Chandelis Duster, Kathleen Magramo, Elizabeth Wolfe, Aya Elamroussi, Lauren Mascarenhas and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Our live coverage of the pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses has moved here .

Progress in negotiations between Columbia protesters and administrators, university says

From CNN’s Paradise Afshar

Negotiations between Columbia University administrators and pro-Palestinian protesters who've been occupying a campus lawn with a sprawling encampment "have shown progress and are continuing as planned," the school said in a statement late Thursday.

"For several days, a small group of faculty, administrators, and University Senators have been in dialogue with student organizers to discuss the basis for dismantling the encampment, dispersing, and following University policies going forward," the university said.

"We have our demands; they have theirs."

The university also denied rumors that the NYPD had been called to campus, calling them "false."

Some context: Columbia announced late Tuesday that it had given protesters a midnight deadline to agree to dismantle their encampment. But the university then said early Wednesday that it had extended the talks for another 48 hours . If no agreement is reached, the school has said it will consider "alternative options," which many protesters have interpreted to mean calling in police to clear the site.

Protests continue at campuses across the US as more arrests are announced. Here’s the latest

A wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests is rippling across the US, with hundreds of people arrested at universities throughout the country this week.

At New York's Columbia University,  the epicenter of the demonstrations,  protesting students said they won’t disperse until the school agrees to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and disinvest its funds from entities connected to Israel, among other demands. Protesters at other campuses have similar demands .

The campus encampments spreading across the nation have brought together students from a variety of backgrounds — including Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims — to decry Israel's bombardment of Gaza .

Here are the latest developments:

Columbia University : The faculty senate is expected to vote on a resolution admonishing the school’s president, Minouche Shafik, on Friday over several of her decisions, according to The New York Times. Shafik has faced criticism for authorizing police to shut down student protests on campus.

Brown University: The university identified about 130 students who it alleges violated a school conduct code that forbids encampments on campus. Students found responsible will be disciplined depending on their behavior and other factors, including any prior conduct violations, the university said.

Emory University : 28 people were arrested , including 20 Emory community members, during a protest at the school, Vice President for Public Safety Cheryl Elliott said. Troopers deployed pepper balls “to control the unruly crowd” during the protest, Georgie State Patrol said. A group of Democratic Georgia state lawmakers condemned the “ excessive force used by Georgia State Patrol” during arrests at Emory.

Emerson College: More than 100 people were arrested and four police officers injured during an encampment clearing at the Boston liberal arts college, according to the Boston Police Department. President Jay Bernhardt said he recognized and respected "the civic activism and passion that sparked the protest" after dozens of arrests.

Indiana University : At least 33 people were detained on campus Thursday following encampment protests.

George Washington University : DC Metropolitan Police were asked to assist in relocating an “unauthorized protest encampment” on campus, university president Ellen M. Granberg said. The decision came "after multiple instructions made by GWPD to relocate to an alternative demonstration site on campus went unheeded by encampment participants," she said.

University of Southern California : The university canceled its main commencement ceremony  next month, citing "new safety measures in place.” Nearly  100 people have been arrested  on the campus.

University of California, Los Angeles : A "demonstration with encampments" formed at UCLA on Thursday.

Northeastern University: An encampment formed at Northeastern University in Boston, where dozens of protesters were seen forming a human chain around several tents. 

Other campuses: Since last Thursday, several campuses have been protest sites, including the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology , University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan,  University of New Mexico , University of California, Berkeley, Yale University , and Harvard University.

Protesters at the University of Texas at Austin asked to disperse at 10 p.m.

Protesters at the University of Texas at Austin were asked to leave the campus's South Mall at 10 p.m. local time, university spokesperson Brian Davis told CNN.

No arrests have been made as of 10 p.m., Davis said.

"There is no curfew on campus. Leadership asked that students clear the South Mall at 10 p.m."

Just last night, more than 30 demonstrators were arrested after UT Austin police issued a dispersal at the school.

Protesters at Ohio State University arrested after refusing to disperse, university says

From CNN’s Joe Sutton and Jamiel Lynch

Demonstrators at Ohio State University were arrested on Thursday night after refusing to disperse, according to university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson.

Johnson did not know how many arrests were made.

“Well established university rules prohibit camping and overnight events. Demonstrators exercised their first amendment rights for several hours and were then instructed to disperse. Individuals who refused to leave after multiple warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass,” he said.

Columbia University senate is redrafting resolution to admonish school's president, New York Times reports

From CNN's Rob Frehse

Columbia University’s faculty senate is expected to vote Friday on a resolution admonishing embattled school president Minouche Shafik over several of her recent decisions, including calling in police to clear a student encampment last week, the New York Times reports .

The resolution would allow the school senate to avoid a censure vote during a critical time for the school, the Times reports, citing several unnamed senators who attended a closed-door meeting Wednesday. Some feared a censure vote would be perceived as giving in to Republican lawmakers, according to the paper.

A Columbia University spokesperson confirmed Shafik’s closed-door meeting with the senate on Wednesday but would not comment on the resolution to CNN.

 “The President met with the Senate plenary in a closed-door session for close to an hour, giving remarks and taking questions. She reiterated the shared goal of restoring calm to campus so everyone can pursue their educational activities.” 

Some context: Shafik has faced immense criticism from some students, faculty and Democratic lawmakers for her decision to authorize police to break up pro-Palestinian student protests last week— a move that resulted in more than 100 arrests .

Other students, Jewish advocacy groups and Republican lawmakers are slamming Shafik for not cracking down on protests — which they say have included antisemitic rhetoric — both on campus and outside its gates.

Several Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have called for Shafik to resign.

CNN’s Maria Sole Campinoti contributed to this report.

What to know about the protests erupting on college campuses across the US

From CNN's Jordan Valinsky

Colleges across the country have erupted with pro-Palestinian protests, and school administrators are trying — and largely failing — to defuse the situation.

Several schools have called the police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across US campuses.

The recent surge in protests have inflamed tensions among students, forcing leadership to decide when free speech on campus crosses a line. The atmosphere was so charged that officials at Columbia – the epicenter of the protests that began last week – announced students can attend classes virtually starting Monday.

Passover, a major Jewish holiday, began this week, heightening fears among a number of Jewish students who have reported hearing antisemitic comments at some of the protests. The anxiety comes as reports of  antisemitic acts have surged  across America since October 7.

When did the protests start?

The situation  escalated last week  at Columbia University, where encampments were organized by  Columbia University Apartheid Divest , a student-led coalition of more than 100 organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, to protest what they describe as the university’s “continued financial investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and military occupation of Palestine,” according to its news release.

What are they asking for?

Columbia protesters say they won’t disperse until the school commits to a “complete divestment” of its funds from entities connected to Israel.

Other protesters are similarly calling on their campuses to divest from companies that sell weapons, construction equipment, technology services and other items to Israel.

Where else are protests happening?

Since last Thursday, a slew of campuses have had protests and encampments, as well as arrests. That includes the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology , University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, University of New Mexico and University of California, Berkeley.

Police   arrested nearly 100 protesters at the University of Southern California Wednesday after a dispersal order.

At Emerson College, more than 100 people were arrested Wednesday during a pro-Palestinian protest, according to the Boston Police Department.

Yale University police  arrested at least 45 protesters Monday  on suspicion of criminal trespassing, though dozens remained Tuesday.

Harvard University officials suspended a pro-Palestinian student organization for allegedly violating school policies.

Read more  here .

Brown University says about 130 students violated school policy banning encampments

From CNN’s Isabel Rosales and Devon Sayers

Brown University has identified about 130 students who it alleges violated a school conduct code that forbids encampments on campus, a university spokesperson said.

The university's Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards has notified the students, who were identified through ID checks, spokesperson Brian Clark said in a release.

An encampment of about 90 people had formed on the school's Providence, Rhode Island campus Wednesday morning, according to Brown.

"Encampment on Brown University’s historic and residential greens is a violation of University policy, and participants in the encampment have been verbally informed of this fact and that they will face conduct proceedings,” the school's release said.

Students found responsible will be disciplined depending on their behavior and other factors, including any prior conduct violations, the university said, noting students could face probation or separation from the school.

“The University continues to ask individuals in or in immediate proximity to the encampment to present their Brown IDs for two reasons: to verify association with Brown for safety and security reasons, and to appropriately address potential violations of policy."

Protesters at Emory University briefly clash with police

From CNN's Elizabeth Wolfe

Protesters briefly clashed with police at Emory University in Georgia on Thursday, the university told CNN.

A confrontation between protesters and police outside the school's Candler School of Theology prompted an "increased law enforcement presence" on campus, according to the university.

"A group of about 100 people left the Quad and marched to the Candler School of Theology, where some protesters pinned police officers against building doors and attempted to access the building," the university said.

"The crowd ultimately returned to the Quad before dispersing."

Video from CNN affiliate WSB shows some protesters using large posters to push into a line of police officers whose backs are against the doors of the building. As officers push back against the posters, one demonstrator chucks their sign at the row of officers.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

Doctoral Programs

• Harvard Business School →
• Doctoral Programs →

New Ideas for a Changing World New Ideas for a Changing World    

Phd programs  , accounting & management, business economics (includes finance), health policy (management), organizational behavior, technology & operations management, admissions  , unlock your phd journey with full financial aid  , placement  , research community  .

Hila Lifshitz-Assaf

Filippo Mezzanotti

Sarah Wolfolds

Patricia Satterstrom

Anastassia Fedyk

Alexandra C. Feldberg

Rohan Kekre

Do Yoon Kim

Talia Gillis

Erica Moszkowski

Sagar Saxena

Aurora Turek

A Jay Holmgren

Evan DeFilippis

Kala Viswanathan

Ahmmad Brown

Ximena Garcia-Rada

Patrick Ferguson

Byungyeon Kim

Ta-Wei "David" Huang

Mengjie "Magie" Cheng

Omar Olivarez

Dafna Bearson

Justine Murray

Celia Stafford

Olivia Zhao

Rowan Clarke

Jaylon Sherrell

Elliot Tobin

Fanele Mashwama

Maria Roche

Charles Wang

Student Research  

Production complementarity and information transmission across industries.

• 01 MAY 2024
• Journal of Financial Economics

Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions

• 15 APR 2024
• Faculty Research

Differences in Care Team Response to Patient Portal Messages by Patient Race and Ethnicity

• 01 MAR 2024
• JAMA Network Open

Find a Current Student

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Michael C. Jensen, 84, Who Helped Reshape Modern Capitalism, Dies

He heralded stock options and golden parachutes as a professor at Harvard Business School, influencing a generation of Wall Street executives.

By Michael S. Rosenwald

Michael C. Jensen, an economist and Harvard Business School professor whose evangelizing for stock options, golden parachutes and leveraged buyouts helped reshape modern capitalism and empower Wall Street’s greed-is-good era, died on April 2 at his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 84.

The death was confirmed by his daughter Natalie Jensen-Noll. She did not specify a cause.

Even before he embarked on a peculiar late-career intellectual partnership with Werner Erhard, the controversial self-help guru who created est, Professor Jensen’s colleagues considered him among the most freethinking and divisive economists of his generation.

“Mike was a kind of born proselytizer,” Eugene F. Fama, a University of Chicago professor and Nobel laureate in economics who collaborated with Professor Jensen, said in an interview. “He was very sure of himself in terms of his ideas being correct and, you know, pathbreaking.”

They were also incendiary.

In his book “ The Golden Passport: Harvard Business School, the Limits of Capitalism, and the Moral Failure of the MBA Elite ” (2017), the journalist Duff McDonald called Professor Jensen an “instrument of intellectual violence” who “created a Frankenstein that no one knows how to kill.”

Professor Jensen began his academic career in the late 1960s, when a seismic shift in economic theory was underway. For decades, students studying management — especially at Harvard Business School — were taught that executives (and their companies) should have a social conscience.

Then, in 1970, the economist and free-market theorist Milton Friedman published his groundbreaking essay “A Friedman Doctrine — The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits,” in The New York Times Magazine.

A business that “takes seriously its responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution,” Mr. Friedman wrote, is “preaching pure and unadulterated socialism.”

Professor Jensen, a free-market adherent himself, endorsed Mr. Friedman’s essay. But he detected a hole in the argument, which he explored in a seminal paper, “ Theory of Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure ,” written in 1976 with William H. Meckling while they were both professors at the University of Rochester.

The paper explored the misalignment of interests between managers and the companies’ owners, the stockholders, which they said made it impossible for firms to exist solely for increasing profits.

A chief executive, for example, might value hiring a chauffeur for an easier commute over reducing costs that eat into profits, or hire more employees for the status boost of running a bigger company, or reinvest profits into short-term, sure-thing projects rather than taking on riskier long-term ideas.

“This was the beginning of breaking open the black box of the firm,” Professor Jensen said in an interview published in the Journal of Applied Finance. “Obviously, firms don’t act, only individuals act, but firms have behavior, and this behavior is based on the system as a whole.”

To align the interests of both parties, Professor Jensen encouraged the use of stock options and equity as primary forms of compensation. He endorsed taking on debt to buy other companies because loan payments and reduced free cash flow would force executives to better manage costs. And he blessed golden parachutes — the large payments executives receive if they are forced to leave after a merger or the outright sale of a company.

“Think about the problem in the following way: Top-level managers and the board of directors act as stockholders’ agents in deals involving hundreds of millions of dollars,” he wrote in Harvard Business Review. “If the alternative providing the highest value to stockholders is sale to another company and the retirement of the current management team, stockholders do not want the managers to block a bid in fear of losing their own jobs.”

Executives walk away with their pockets comfortably lined with cash, the theory goes, but so do investors.

“He was clearly some kind of genius,” said Nicholas Lemann, the former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, who interviewed Professor Jensen for his book “ Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream ” (2019). “I think he’s much more important in shaping the America we live in now than most people recognize.”

That shaping largely transpired at Harvard Business School, which Professor Jensen joined in 1985, at the height of President Ronald Reagan’s pro-business economic policies. Two years later, in Oliver Stone’s movie “Wall Street,” Michael Douglas portrayed a fictional corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, who declared: “ Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.”

Professor Jensen taught his theories in a class he called “Coordination, Control and the Management of Organizations,” one of the most popular electives at the business school.

“Have no doubt about it, the most powerful man at HBS in the early 1990s was Michael Jensen,” Mr. McDonald wrote. “He was much more engaged with students, those students were all going to Wall Street, and Wall Street firms were all sending money back to HBS.”

Michael Cole Jensen was born on Nov. 30, 1939, in Rochester, Minn. His father, Harold, was a linotype operator at a newspaper and drove a taxi. His mother, Gertrude (Cole) Jensen, managed the home. The Jensens struggled financially; Michael’s father drank and gambled heavily.

“The idea that there might be some other way of life for anybody in the family seemed fanciful,” Mr. Lemann wrote. “Mike Jensen assumed that he would be a linotype operator, too.”

A teacher at the vocational high school Michael attended recommended him to a recruiter at Macalester College in St. Paul. He had no plans to attend college, but he asked the recruiter if the school had classes on the stock market.

“Yes, we do, the recruiter said,” Mr. Lemann wrote. “It’s called economics.”

He enrolled. After graduating in 1962, he paid his way through graduate school at the University of Chicago — the intellectual home of Mr. Friedman and other free-market theorists — by working the night shift in the press room of The Chicago Tribune. He earned an M.B.A. in finance and a doctorate in economics in 1968, then moved to New York State to join the University of Rochester.

His marriages to Dolores Dvorak and Toni Wolcott ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Natalie, he is survived by another daughter, Stephanie Jensen; a sister, Gayle Marie Jensen; and four grandchildren. He had homes in both Sharon, Vt., and Sarasota.

Later in life, after Wall Street had been besieged by corporate stock option scandals and politicians derided excessive compensation packages, Professor Jensen acknowledged that his ideas had spiraled out of control.

He told The New Yorker in 2002 that basing compensation so heavily on options incentivized executives to lie about financial results. Stock options had become “managerial heroin,” he said; what the business world lacked was integrity.

Around 2012, with Mr. Erhard, he founded the Erhard-Jensen Ontological/Phenomenological Initiative . They offered weeklong seminars on leadership, which they taught in far-flung places, typically near beaches. The cost: $3,000 per person. Mr. Lemann attended one in Bermuda.

“I was involved in reorganizing the financial industry,” Professor Jensen said onstage, according to Mr. Lemann’s book. But by then, he said, the world of finance was “staggeringly bad,” adding “I’m sickened by it.”

Embracing integrity was, for Professor Jensen, a profound experience.

“The most wonderful things happen if you have integrity,” he said onstage. “I was incomplete as a human being. Was I successful? Sure I was successful. But I was incomplete.”

An earlier version of this obituary misstated the date of Professor Jensen’s death. He died on April 2, not April 4. It also misstated the name of a class he taught at Harvard Business School. It was “Coordination, Control and the Management of Organizations,” not “The Coordination and Control of Markets and Organizations.”

How we handle corrections

• International

University protests

Trump's hush money trial

April 25, 2024 - US university protests

By Elise Hammond, Chandelis Duster, Kathleen Magramo, Elizabeth Wolfe, Aya Elamroussi, Lauren Mascarenhas and Tori B. Powell, CNN

At least two professors detained during Emory University protests

From CNN's Nick Valencia

A CNN crew witnessed at least two professors detained by Atlanta police, including Emory University economics professor Caroline Fohlin and Noëlle McAfee, chair of the philosophy department.

CNN filmed video of women being detained. During her interaction with police, Professor Fohlin could be heard expressing concern about the violent arrests and use of force by police against individuals she identified as students. 

CAIR condemns “use of force and arrests” at Emory University

From CNN's Chandelis Duster, Devon Sayers and Nick Valencia

The Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in Georgia on Thursday condemned the “use of force and arrests” by police officers against protesters at Emory University in Atlanta.

“Protesters shared a day of cultural learning and community despite which Emory deployed excessive use of force, tear gas, and rubber bullets,” the organization said in a statement. “Emory University and APD fully bear responsibility for the violence we are seeing at the Emory campus right now. Students and protesters must be allowed their full constitutional rights.”

Protesters were arrested on the campus of Emory University after an encampment was formed in the university quad area Thursday morning.

Video from the scene showed law enforcement officers wrangling protesters to the ground and forcefully putting people in zip-tie handcuffs.

Law enforcement officers used pepper spray to help clear the area of demonstrators, a CNN team on the scene reported. They also deployed pepper balls against a crowd gathered around protesters that had been detained by police. 

ACLU of Texas calls on state officials to create safe spaces for students to protest

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas and Jeremy Grisham 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas warned against state and university officials deploying law enforcement to “violently censor” protests held by pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of Texas at Austin and other universities across the nation.

“The First Amendment guarantees people in Texas and across the nation the right to protest, including those who advocate for Palestinians,” a statement from the group read. “However, state leaders rapidly escalated a planned day of peaceful demonstrations by deploying law enforcement in riot gear against students and the press. Public officials don’t get to forcefully suppress the voices of people they disagree with.”

Dozens of protesters were arrested at UT Austin Wednesday.

In its statement, the ACLU of Texas called on state officials to create safe spaces for students, staff and faculty to protest.

Emerson president offers grief counseling to students after protests lead to more than 100 arrests

From CNN's Samantha Delouya

Emerson College President Jay Bernhardt said he "recognizes and respects the civic activism and passion that sparked the protest" in a statement Thursday after law enforcement officials cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the school, leading to dozens of arrests on Wednesday night.

"Emerson staff and administrators were at the scene, focused on supporting our students through this highly stressful situation and seeking to de-escalate the conflict," Bernhardt said. "Today, Emerson officials were at the police precincts and courthouses with the arrested students, and the College will receive them back on campus when they are released."

More than 100 people were arrested and four police officers were injured during the encampment clearing at the Boston liberal arts college, according to the Boston Police Department.

Bernhardt said that he understood that the encampment clearing "has significantly and adversely impacted our community" and offered students the support of grief counselors on campus on Thursday.

Prosecutor drops charges against dozens of protesters arrested at UT-Austin Wednesday

From CNN's Ashley Killough

Following Wednesday’s arrests of dozens of protesters on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the local prosecutor’s office says 46 cases have already been dismissed.

“The Travis County Attorney’s Office received several cases yesterday and throughout the evening as a result of yesterday’s demonstration at the University of Texas,” said spokesperson Diana Melendez with the Travis County Attorney’s Office Thursday. “Legal concerns were raised by defense counsel. We individually reviewed each case that was presented and agreed there were deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits.” 

The prosecutor’s office says the court ordered those protesters to be released. “We will continue to individually review all cases presented to our office to determine whether prosecution is factually and legally appropriate,” said Melendez.

Students rally at Georgetown University, march to encampment at George Washington University

From CNN's Lauren Koenig

At Georgetown University in Washington, DC, a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters filled about one-third of the circular driveway in front of Healy Hall, the main administrative building on campus.

The crowd remained peaceful as organizers spoke and led chants of "free Palestine" and "from the river to the sea." The crowd then marched to the encampment at George Washington University, led by several professors wearing graduation regalia.

At the GW encampment, dozens of tents filled about one-quarter of the campus' University Yard.

“There is only one solution, intifada revolution, intifada intifada, long live the intifada," the demonstrators chanted, holding signs reading "Resistance is justified when people are occupied!" "Stop the invasion!" and "Ceasefire now!"

Cheers erupted when the marchers from Georgetown arrived on GW's campus, with continued chants for "intifada revolution." The Georgetown students were escorted into the GW encampment.

Two arrested for trespassing at Princeton University Thursday during protest

From CNN's Samantha Kelly and Taylor Romine

Two graduate students at Princeton University in New Jersey were arrested Thursday morning for trespassing, the university said in a statement.

People started gathering for a protest Thursday when "a small number began erecting about a half-dozen tents," the statement said.

"After repeated warnings from the Department of Public Safety to cease the activity and leave the area, two graduate students were arrested for trespassing," the statement said, adding that the students are not allowed on campus pending a disciplinary process.

The tents were taken down by protesters, they said, but protests at the university are still underway.

On Wednesday, the university  put out a message to students  sharing the university's policy on protests.

"In addition to disrupting University operations, some types of protest actions (including occupying or blocking access to buildings, establishing outdoor encampments and sleeping in any campus outdoor space) are inherently unsafe for both those involved and for bystanders, and they increase the potential for escalation and confrontation," the message said.

NYPD Chief: “Good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law”

From CNN’s Chris Boyette and Caroll Alvarado

As the deadline for negotiations between protesters and Columbia University officials about clearing the encampment on its lawn nears, one high-ranking New York Police Department chief said the students are learning an important lesson.

“Columbia decided to hold its students accountable to the laws of the school. They are seeing the consequences of their actions. Something these kids were most likely never taught,” Chief John Chell, NYPD Chief of Patrol, wrote in a lengthy  post on X . “Good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law.” 

The chief’s message came in response to an  X post  from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in which the New York congresswoman questioned Columbia’s decision to call the NYPD on their own students.

Chell also expressed frustration at what he said were students' “hateful anti-Semitic speech and vile language towards our cops.”

CNN has reached out to the NYPD for comment on the chief’s statements and Ocasio-Cortez’s office for reaction.

Pro-Palestinian encampment forms at George Washington University

From CNN's Taylor Romine 

George Washington University has joined a growing list of schools across the nation where Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are forming encampments on school campuses, according to videos posted by The GW Hatchet student newspaper.

The encampment was organized by students at multiple universities across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, a group representing the coalition of Students for Justice in Palestine  said in a post on Instagram .

The encampment is a “united demonstration of our power, uplifting our collective demands for financial transparency, boycotts and divestment from the zionist state, and an end to the racist repression pro-Palestine students," the post said.

In a statement to CNN, George Washington University said it is aware of about 50 students gathering on the University Yard with about 20 tents, in addition to non-students. The university said the protest has remained peaceful.

George Washington Police Department officers and other university officials have responded to the protest, and the school said it is coordinating with the DC Metropolitan Police Department.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

Staying current is easy with Crain’s news delivered straight to your inbox.

Free of charge.

April 29, 2024 8:46 AM

Nancy Tuchman

Dean, School of Environmental Sustainability

Loyola University Chicago

Scope of work: As founding dean of Loyola's School of Environmental Sustainability, Nancy Tuchman has provided vision and leadership since its inception as an institute in fall 2013. The school includes a biodiesel lab and an urban agriculture program, both student-run.

Biggest professional win: In 2020, the Institute of Environmental Sustainability was promoted to Loyola's 13th school, becoming the School of Environmental Sustainability. The school has grown to offer eight undergraduate degree programs, a Master's in Environmental Science and Sustainability and three graduate certificate programs, and serves over 500 students.

Other contributions: Tuchman's awards include the Society for Freshwater Science Fellows Award and the Leadership in Science & Education Award from the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Sponsored Content

Loyola University Chicago dean prepares next generation of green leaders

SPONSORED CONTENT

  Over the last two decades, aquatic ecologist Nancy C. Tuchman, PhD , has spearheaded the vision for sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. Since founding and directing the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy in 2005 and the Institute of Environmental Sustainability in 2013, Tuchman has led Loyola’s transformation to become one of the greenest colleges in the nation — shrinking the university’s environmental impact and preparing the next generation of eco-conscious leaders.

  How did your sustainability efforts at Loyola begin, and how has the work progressed?

 As someone who works in conservation, I was concerned about the university’s environmental footprint. So, in the early 2000s, I raised this issue with Loyola’s president. In 2004, the university’s capital improvement plan included a pledge to make our campuses more environmentally sustainable.

 Since then, we’ve cut our water use per square foot by 34%, and we now divert 44% of campus waste from landfills through recycling or composting. Perhaps most importantly, we’ve reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the Lake Shore Campus by nearly 80% and will be carbon neutral by 2025.

How did the School of Environmental Sustainability get started at Loyola?

 We continued to build momentum with our environmental initiatives. In 2013, Loyola established the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES) and began to offer undergraduate degree programs. By 2019, IES had around 400 students and a graduate program. In 2020, the university expanded IES to launch the School of Environmental Sustainability.

 Our focus on sustainability differentiates Loyola from our peer universities. When we surveyed incoming students this year, 57% said that commitment to the environment was important in their college decision.

How has SES grown and developed?

We now have more than 500 students, including over 60 graduate students, and undergraduates can choose from seven majors. To support this growth, we’ve nearly tripled our faculty and staff and continue building an interdisciplinary team of outstanding educators and researchers.

Our Urban Agriculture Program is one example of our impact and the engaged learning opportunities we offer. The program gives students hands-on experience with sustainable food production. Since the program started 10 years ago, students have produced more than 20,000 pounds of healthy, sustainably grown food that they donate and sell locally.

How does your work align with business trends in the corporate world?

We’re seeing growing interest in sustainability among corporate leaders and consumers. At SES, we’re equipping students with the expertise to adapt business practices for environmental sustainability.

Last year, we launched a new bachelor’s degree program in environmental economics and sustainability. This program connects environmental problems to business theories and economic analysis, preparing students to become leaders in the new green economy.

What is your vision for the future of sustainability at Loyola?

We’re currently working on our next Carbon Action Plan and intend to go beyond carbon neutrality. We aim to completely decarbonize our campuses, which means eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels and investing in new technologies. We’re already installing new geothermal systems and investigating cutting-edge heat exchange systems.

Another goal is to make Loyola a zero-waste campus. Our athletic events are already zero-waste, and we look forward to expanding on what we’ve learned to reduce and divert waste from all campus operations.

Get our newsletters

Staying current is easy with Crain's news delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

Subscribe today

With a Crain’s Chicago Subscription you get exclusive access, insights and experiences to help you succeed in business.

Business Administration

Share this page.

This program will set a solid research foundation in disciplinary theories and methods and train you to apply them in academic research on critical business problems. You will choose from four areas of study: accounting and management, marketing, strategy, and technology.

The accounting and management track examines how information impacts resource allocations and stakeholder behavior. The marketing track explores how goods, services, and information are exchanged to satisfy individuals and organizations. Researchers in strategy study the mechanisms through which firms create value and sustain superior performance. Technology and operations management prepares students to examine how and why firms create and deploy innovative products and services and how the diffusion of technological novelty generates economic growth and transforms society.

Examples of student projects include examining the hiring and organizational practices of firms and how they interact with the firms’ strategies, how information is used by capital market participants and how those forces shape the information production processes of firms, as well as conducting a study of sales compensation.

Graduates of the program have secured faculty positions at such prestigious institutions as Harvard Medical School, Duke University, London Business School, University of Hong Kong, and University of California, Berkeley.

Students in business administration are enrolled in and receive their degree from the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and work with faculty from both the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and  Harvard Business School  (HBS). Harvard Griffin GSAS has offered PhD programs in collaboration with HBS since 1916. In addition to business administration, Harvard Griffin GSAS and HBS collaborate on programs in  business economics ,  organizational behavior , and  health policy  (management track). 

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Business Administration , and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Accounting and Management | Marketing | Strategy | Technology and Operations Management

Admissions Requirements

Please review admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Business Administration .

Academic Background

Applicants with bachelor’s degrees in the social sciences, engineering, sciences, and business are encouraged to apply.

Standardized Tests

GRE General or GMAT: Required iBT TOEFL preferred minimum score: 100 IELTS preferred minimum score: 7.5

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Applying indigenous wisdom to sustainable tourism

Roshis Krishna Shrestha   recently completed his PhD within the  ANU College of Business and Economics’ (CBE’s) Research School of Management. Shortly after graduating, Roshis started his new role as a Research Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU).

In this interview, Roshis provides insights into his dissertation, talks about his new role, and reflects on the ups and downs he encountered while completing his PhD.

Q. Congratulations on completing your PhD! Can you give us an overview of the focus of your research, and some of the conclusions you drew from it?

My dissertation is entitled  An Indigenous wisdom framework to sustainable collaborative Indigenous tourism development: The case of Nepal’s Newars  and, as its name would suggest, draws on the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Newars to empower sustainable and collaborative tourism development. The thesis takes insights from the traditional and contemporary practices of Guthi, a socio-cultural cooperative unique to the Indigenous Newars of Nepal with a history spanning over 1700 years. The Guthi system, which continues to thrive in many Newari communities, empowers its members to collectively organise events of cultural, social, economic, and religious significance. The Indigenous Wisdom framework, inspired by Newars’ relational norms, values, and traditional knowledge systems, seeks cultural empowerment by preserving heritage, enhancing social cohesion, and promoting ecological sustainability. This framework presents a collaborative approach that deeply respects and embraces Indigenous perspectives and knowledge, fostering equitable and sustainable tourism development.

Q. One of the papers from your PhD recently won the 2023 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management’s (JHTM) Best PhD Award. What are the key practical contributions of this paper and how does it inform your future research directions?

The paper, separate from my thesis and titled  'A place where I belong' - The ambiguous role of the outsider-within dichotomy among Indigenous Gurung women tourism entrepreneurs in Nepal , offers valuable insights into the empowerment of Indigenous female Gurung tourism entrepreneurs, highlighting the crucial role of grassroots associations. By comparing the grassroots associations that performed really well and associations that were barely afloat, this research provided insights into how effective grassroots associations gave Indigenous women entrepreneurs who feel ‘outsider-within’, a safe space to empower their creative potential. Local government bodies or destination-management organisations can adopt the proposed strategy to empower the Indigenous women entrepreneurs in the peripheral region of developing countries, such as Nepal. This study fuelled my interest in grassroots mobilisation and performative justice in marginalised contexts.

Q. When did your interest in Sustainable Collaborative Indigenous Tourism Development begin to grow?

Before embarking on my academic journey, I gained over five years of managerial experience in various sectors in Nepal, including automotive and consumer-durables industries. As an Indigenous Newar from Nepal, I have a longstanding connection with Guthi. From a young age, we are introduced to cultural practices such as the Machhindranath Jatra, a renowned cultural festival that has persevered for over 1700 years. Observing how deeply Guthi is ingrained in our community has always piqued my curiosity. I’ve found myself continually intrigued by the significance and enduring nature of this social cooperative among Indigenous Newars. My curiosity took an academic shape when I was reading some of the existing scholarly works on Guthi, and then I realised that this was not how I saw Guthi, and this was not what it meant to me. This discrepancy sparked my desire to delve deeper into this area and provide a more authentic representation of Guthi, one that resonates with the lived experiences of Indigenous Newars like myself.

Q.  You have accepted a new appointment as Research Assistant Professor at HKPU. How do you feel about starting in this role, and what do you hope to achieve?

I am thrilled to start my new role. HKPU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management is home to 75 distinguished faculty members that I look forward to learning from and collaborating with. My research interests extend to sustainable tourism, culture and heritage tourism, and rural tourism, as applied to my native country of Nepal, and informed by ethnographic methods and grounded theory. My goal is to develop holistically as an academic, excelling in securing research grants, producing high-quality research, and delivering impactful teaching. I am eager to foster collaborations within and beyond the university, and believe that these partnerships can drive innovative research to address pressing challenges in our field. This opportunity to contribute to and grow in this vibrant academic environment is truly exciting.

Q. What were some of challenges you faced during your PhD, and how did you overcome them? What was a highlight?

The biggest challenges I faced during my PhD were flow-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, travel restrictions delayed my fieldwork by over six months and meant I had to develop virtual relationships with community elders and key informants prior to going out into the field. Also, being in isolation within a few weeks of arriving in the country all by myself tested my motivation and productivity. To cope with this, I took regular breaks, started meditation, and started exercising. Also, my supervisor, Dr L’Espoir Decosta, provided invaluable support and motivation during this difficult time.

Q. What will you miss the most about life at ANU?

At ANU, I met some amazing people who enriched my life and helped me focus on what really matters. In addition to these wonderful people, I will miss the beautiful campus, especially morning coffees at Atticus with friends and the tranquil walks across the campus during the late afternoon or evening. The serene parks of Canberra, which provided a peaceful escape, will always hold a special place in my heart. Lastly, the philosophical discussions I had with my supervisor were invaluable and will be deeply missed. These experiences have left an indelible mark on my professional journey.

The College is always keen to explore research collaborations with the public and private sector and to reconnect with  alumni . Please  get in touch  if you would like to know more about partnering with us.

Featured Topics

Featured series.

A series of random questions answered by Harvard experts.

Explore the Gazette

Read the latest.

Jeff Lichtman named dean of science 

Bringing personal perspective to homeless care

Nikole Hannah-Jones on history, rage — and hope

Photo by Christine Baker

Jeremy M. Weinstein named dean of Harvard Kennedy School

Political scientist, who also served as academic leader and in various roles in Obama administration, to assume post July 1

Jeremy M. Weinstein, an accomplished scholar of political science, experienced academic leader, and dedicated public servant, will become dean of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government on July 1, interim President Alan M. Garber announced Monday.

Weinstein, M.A. ’01, Ph.D. ’03, is currently the Kleinheinz Professor of International Studies at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. A Stanford faculty member since 2004, he has served that institution by developing and establishing cross-university initiatives and leading efforts to advance the social sciences, global and area studies, and issues of ethics, technology, and public policy.

“Widely respected for his energetic and empowering leadership style, [Weinstein] is responsible for the conception, establishment, and development of major initiatives,” wrote Garber in his message to the HKS community. “Jeremy is an exceptional scholar and leader with significant high-level policy experience who will bring to the deanship a rare combination of talents at a pivotal moment for HKS.”

“Jeremy is an exceptional scholar and leader with significant high-level policy experience who will bring to the deanship a rare combination of talents at a pivotal moment for HKS.” Alan M. Garber, interim Harvard President

A tenured professor at Stanford since 2009, Weinstein has worked broadly on issues of comparative politics and public policy, with expertise on civil wars and political violence, ethnic politics, the political economy of development, democracy and governance, policing, and migration.

His scholarship has been published widely in leading journals, including American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, and more. His first book, “Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence” won the William H. Riker Book Award from the American Political Science Association for best book on political economy. He is also co-author of “Coethnicity: Diversity and the Dilemmas of Collective Action,” which received the Gregory Luebbert Book Award for best book in comparative politics.

Weinstein is co-director of the Immigration Policy Lab, a research team that aims to improve the lives of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants through partnerships with governments, nonprofits, and others to design and evaluate innovative policies and programs.

More recently, Weinstein has been teaching and writing on issues at the intersection of technology and democracy. His recent, co-authored book, “System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot,” was excerpted in The Atlantic, Time, and Fast Company, and reviewed widely.

“The Harvard Kennedy School is a singular institution in the landscape of American higher education known for its unique combination of cutting-edge social science, breadth in public policy, and abiding commitment to public engagement. I am thrilled to return to Harvard to become dean and simply can’t imagine a better platform for working with extraordinary scholars, students, and practitioners to understand and address the most important policy challenges of the next decade.”

In addition to his wide-ranging scholarship, Weinstein is an innovative and experienced academic leader. Working with a team of faculty, he designed and launched Stanford Impact Labs (SIL), a university-wide initiative that trains and invests in teams of researchers working with leaders in government, business, and communities to design, test, and scale interventions to address persistent social problems. As faculty director of SIL, Weinstein is responsible for the leadership, management, and fundraising for Stanford’s key initiative to accelerate the public impact of the social sciences.

Weinstein has also played a critical role in curricular innovations at the intersection of ethics, policy, and technology. He co-teaches a popular undergraduate course in computer science — “Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change.”

He also launched and directs a new undergraduate major in data science and social systems, which enables undergraduates to develop expertise in computer science, statistics, and the social sciences, and to apply these skills to address important social problems.

Weinstein’s previous institutional leadership roles include serving as the Fisher Family Director of the Stanford Global Studies Division, a role in which he managed 15 centers and programs with a network of more than 400 affiliated faculty members. Earlier in his career, he served twice as the Ford-Dorsey Director for the Center for African Studies from 2007 to 2008 and again from 2011 to 2013.

“We are delighted to welcome Jeremy back to Harvard,” interim Provost John Manning said. “He is a proven institution-builder who has helped bring about innovation across disciplines and impactfully connected his teaching and research to real-world questions that shape the global landscape. He will be a superb and collegial leader for the HKS community in the years ahead.”

A dedicated public servant, Weinstein has also worked at the highest level of government on major foreign policy and national security challenges. Between 2013 and 2015, Weinstein served as deputy to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and before that as chief of staff at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. In these roles, he was Ambassador Samantha Power’s principal policy adviser and chief strategist, and led a team of professional diplomats, political appointees, and civil servants.

He also served as a standing member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, which advises the cabinet and the president on foreign policy issues. Before joining the State Department, Weinstein served at the White House as the director for development and democracy in the National Security Council from 2009–2011. He played a critical role in the design and launch of President Barack Obama’s Open Government Partnership, a global coalition of more than 75 governments working to transform how government serves its citizens.

Weinstein earned his B.A. in political science, economics, and public policy with high honors from Swarthmore College in 1997 and received his graduate degrees in political economy and government from Harvard.

Among his many awards, Weinstein received the Karl Deutsch Award for his significant contributions to the study of international relations, the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Stanford, and the Joseph Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize, given to the outstanding teaching fellow at Harvard when he was a Ph.D. student.

At Harvard, Weinstein will be joined by his wife, Rachel Gibson, a 2000 M.P.P. graduate of HKS, and two children.

Weinstein will succeed Douglas W. Elmendorf, A.M. ’85, Ph.D. ’89, who has served as dean since January 2016.

Share this article

You might like.

Neuroscientist inspired by ‘great challenge’ of leading life, physical sciences division in era of rapidly growing knowledge

Soon-to-be Med School grad’s family struggled in U.S. after fleeing war-torn Central America. He hasn’t forgotten.

Pulitzer Prize winner delivers keynote at Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative’s 2024 Symposium

When math is the dream

Dora Woodruff was drawn to beauty of numbers as child. Next up: Ph.D. at MIT.

Seem like Lyme disease risk is getting worse? It is.

The risk of Lyme disease has increased due to climate change and warmer temperature. A rheumatologist offers advice on how to best avoid ticks while going outdoors.

Three will receive 2024 Harvard Medal

In recognition of their extraordinary service

• Utility Menu

44d3fa3df9f06a3117ed3d2ad6c71ecc

• Administration
• Career Placement for Prior Classes

Graduates from the PhD program are placed in Academia, Government Agencies, Technology Industry, Finance and Banking.  

Graduate Student Placement 2023

Graduate student placement 2022, graduate student placement 2021, graduate student placement 2020, graduate student placement 2019, graduate student placement 2018, graduate student placement 2017, graduate student placement 2016, graduate student placement 2015, graduate student placement 2014, graduate student placement 2013, graduate student placement 2012, graduate student placement 2011, graduate student placement 2010, graduate student placement 2009, graduate student placement 2008, graduate student placement 2007, graduate student placement 2006, graduate student placement 2005.

• PhD Program
• Program Requirements
• Job Market Candidates
• Financial Support