Report Card on Obama: MIT Experts Assess Obama
Moderator: Richard Samuels
Panelists: Barry Posen
Henry D. Jacoby
Simon Johnson
About the Speakers
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MODERATOR: RICHARD SAMUELS Director, Center for International Studies Ford International Professor of Political Science, MIT Richard J. Samuels is also the Founding Director of the MIT Japan Program. In 2001 he became Chairman of the Japan-US Friendship Commission, an independent Federal grant-making agency that supports Japanese studies and policy-oriented research in the United States. In 2005 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Samuels served as Head of the MIT Department of Political Science between 1992-1997 and as Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Japan of the National Research Council until 1996. Samuels' next book, Securing Japan, will be published in 2007 by Cornell University Press. His previous books include Machiavelli's Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, a comparative political and economic history of political leadership in Italy and Japan,and "Rich Nation, Strong Army": National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan,and The Business of the Japanese State: Energy Markets in Comparative and Historical Perspective. Samuels received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1980. |
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BARRY POSEN Ford International Professor of Political Science Director, CIS Security Studies Program, MIT Barry R. Posen serves on the Executive Committee of Seminar XXI, an educational program for senior military officers, government officials and business executives in the national security policy community. He has written two books, Inadvertent Escalation: Conventional War and Nuclear Risks and The Sources of Military Doctrine, which won two awards: The American Political Science Association's Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award, and Ohio State University's Edward J. Furniss Jr. Book Award. Posen is also the author of numerous articles, including "The Case for Restraint," The American Interest, (November/December 2007) and "Command of the Commons: The Military Foundation of U.S. Hegemony," International Security, (Summer, 2003.) He has been a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow; Rockefeller Foundation International Affairs Fellow; Guest Scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow, Smithsonian Institution; and most recently, Transatlantic Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Posen's current research interests include U.S. national security policy, the security policy of the European Union, the organization and employment of military force, great power intervention into civil conflicts, and innovation in the U.S. Army, 1970-1980. |
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HENRY D. JACOBY William F. Pounds Professor of Management Emeritus Professor of Applied Economics Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, MIT Sloan School of Management Co-Director, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, MIT Henry "Jake" Jacoby studies policy and management in the areas of energy, natural resources, and the environment, writing widely on these topics, including five books. He is a former Chair of the MIT Faculty, and former Director of the Harvard Environmental Systems Program, former Director of CEEPR, and former Associate Director of the MIT Energy Laboratory. He currently serves on the Scientific Committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program and on the Climate Research Committee of the U.S. National Research Council. His current research is focused on economic analysis of climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation, and the integration of this work with the natural science of the issue. Jacoby received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957, an M.P.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1963, and a Ph.D. in Economics, also from Harvard University, in 1967. |
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SIMON JOHNSON Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan School of Management Simon Johnson is also a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., and co-founder of a website on the global economic and financial crisis, BaselineScenario.com. He is co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research project on Africa and President of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (term of office 2008-09). From March 2007 through the end of August 2008, Professor Johnson was the International Monetary Fund's Economic Counsellor (chief economist) and Director of its Research Department. In 2000-2001 Professor Johnson was a member of the US Securities and Exchange Commissions Advisory Committee on Market Information. Johnson is an expert on financial and economic crises. As an academic, in policy roles, and with the private sector, over the past 20 years he has worked on crisis prevention, amelioration, and recovery around the world, in both relatively rich and relatively poor countries. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Comparative Economics, and Cliometrica (a new Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History). In January 2010, he joined The Huffington Post as contributing business editor. Johnson earned his B.A. from the University of Oxford, his M.A. from the University of Manchester, and his Ph.D. in Economics from MIT. |
Testimony to Policymakers
Providing expert testimony to policymakers is a notable event and important mode of communication for the Program. A key aspect of our mission is to provide objective information to the policy-making community that is helpful to their deliberations on global change issues. Responding to requests for testimony enables Program participants to directly communicate insights from their area of expertise and help contribute to improved understanding.
U.S. Congressional Testimony and Correspondence
The True Costs of Alternative Energy Sources: Are We Unfairly Penalizing Natural Gas?
U.S. Joint Economic Committee
April 26, 2012
Michael Greenstone, Director of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution and the 3M Professor of Environmental Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, participated in a Joint Economic Committee hearing examining the potential impact on the American Consumer due to loss of refining capacity. Greenstone focused on the true cost of alternative forms of energy, taking into account their social (i.e. health) costs. His testimony was based on his recent report, which was reported by the Washington Post. The testimony is available here.
An Open Letter to Congress from U.S. Scientists on Climate Change and Recently Stolen Emails
December 4, 2009
Prof. Ronald Prinn and 24 leading U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In response to the recent controversy dubbed 'Climategate', the scientists seek to set the record straight: The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. The letter is available here.
Allocation Issues in Greenhouse Gas Cap and Trade Systems
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
October 21, 2009
Prof. Gilbert Metcalf participated in a Hearing on the costs and benefits for energy consumers and energy prices associated with the allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances. Prof. Metcalf's written testimony is available here. The archived webcast of the hearing and other testimonies presented are available here.
Some Fundamentals of Allowance Allocation
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
October 21, 2009
Dr. Denny Ellerman participated in a Hearing on the costs and benefits for energy consumers and energy prices associated with the allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances. Dr. Ellerman's written testimony is available here. The archived webcast of the hearing and other testimonies presented are available here.
The Future of Fossil Fuels: Geological and Terrestrial Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources
May 1, 2007
Dr. Howard Herzog participated in a Hearing on carbon capture and sequestration and the future of fossil fuels. Dr. Herzog's written testimony is available here. Other transcripts from the hearing are available here.
The European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
March 26, 2007
Dr. Denny Ellerman participated in a Roundtable Hearing to discuss the progress of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme and to receive information on lessons learned for policymakers who want to better understand how a market-based trading program could operate efficiently and effectively in the United States. A transcript of the hearing is available here.
Climate Change: A Growing Scientific Impetus for Policy
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means
February 28, 2007
Prof. Ronald Prinn participated in a Hearing on energy and tax policy, the first in a series that focused on climate change. Prof. Prinn's written testimony is available here. Other transcripts from the hearing are available here.
Interpreting the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
February 13, 2007
Prof. Henry Jacoby participated in a Hearing on the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change, examining the economic impacts of climate change and stabilizing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Prof. Jacoby's written testimony is available here. A transcript of the full hearing is available here.
Other examples of testimony to policymakers and advice provided upon request include presentations to:
- official E.U. bodies, such as the Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change to President Barrosso of the European Commission, on emissions trading;
- non-U.S. governmental bodies, such as the Commission des affaires européennes of the French Assemblée Nationale, on the E.U. ETS;
- the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, on insights into proposed cap-and-trade systems;
- the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, on the economic analysis capabilities and methodology applied in the Joint Program's work;
- the Executive Office of the President of the USA, on scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric concentrations;
- regional groups, such as those working on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative of the Northeastern U.S. (RGGI), on the issue of a safety valve; and
- state-level associations, such as the California Air Resources Board, on emissions trading and air quality issues, and the Florida legislature, on issues of cellulosic biofuels and climate change mitigation.
Program participants also contribute their expertise in various advisory roles, in response to requests for briefings, and through involvement in steering committees, panels, and professional organizations. Outlets for this type of communication include involvement in national and international bodies such as the U.S. National Academies, the International Panel on Climate Change, and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program; participation in Synthesis and Assessment activities of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program; as well as myriad informal contacts with government and international agencies, sponsor organizations, NGOs, and fellow researchers.
Geoengineering: Science & Governance
An MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and Harvard University Center for the Environment initiative.
About the Seminar Series
Solar geoengineering is the concept of deliberately cooling the Earth by reflecting a small amount of inbound sunlight back into space. It is the only currently known method for reducing temperatures in the short term (years to decades), and therefore has the potential to reduce many of the worst impacts of global warming. But what would be the side effects, both physical and socio-political? How would it work and who gets to decide if it is deployed? Does humanity have the wisdom and the institutions to govern the development of such a powerful technology in this messy, multi-polar world?
This seminar series, held jointly by the Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) and MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, will explore the science, technology, governance and ethics of solar geoengineering. In bringing together international experts, participants will learn some of the greatest challenges and hear opinions on how this technology could and should be managed.
To find out about the next event, please visit: http://environment.harvard.edu/geoengineering. Or follow us on Twitter at #HarvMITGeoeng.
