KSG group selects Savitz Fellowship recipient

The Kennedy School of Government’s (KSG’s) Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Group (ENRFG) has announced that the Savitz Fellowship has been conferred to Lori Snyder, a Ph.D. student in public policy at KSG. The fellowship, granted to the best paper written by a doctoral student in the area of environmental and resource policy during 2002, is open to doctoral students from throughout Harvard. According to Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at KSG and chair of ENRFG, this year’s competition featured the best set of submissions yet received.

Snyder’s paper examined the effects of various types of environmental regulation on the diffusion of environmentally friendly production technology in the chlorine manufacturing industry. Her analysis found that regulations on chlorine manufacturing itself – under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Superfund program – did not have demonstrable effects on adoption of cleaner technology at existing plants. However, regulation of the downstream uses of chlorine, particularly regulation of ozone-depleting chemicals under the Montreal Protocol and regulation of chlorinated discharges from pulp and paper mills, increased the rate of closure of plants using the older, dirtier technologies. Thus, environmental regulation had an effect on technological change, but not in the way that many advocates would argue.

This year’s award committee consisted of William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development; William Hogan, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Public Policy and Administration; and Henry Lee, lecturer in public policy and Jaidah Family Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program.

The recipient of the Savitz Fellow Award receives a $5,000 honorarium and the title of Savitz Predoctoral Fellow in Environmental and Resource Policy, and is invited to make a presentation at a dinner of faculty and graduate students.

The Savitz Fellowship is supported by the Savitz Family Fund for Environmental and Natural Resource Policy. The fund also provides an award for the best paper written in the area by a KSG master’s degree student, as well as broad support for faculty research, writing, and outreach in the environmental and resource areas.