Eleven top academics join KSG faculty

Eleven leading academics and practitioners whose expertise ranges from health policy to Latin American studies have been named new faculty members at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Dean David T. Ellwood recently announced.

“The Kennedy School is delighted to welcome such an accomplished and eminent group of scholars and practitioners,” said Stephen Walt, academic dean. “We believe each of them will play a central role in our research and teaching efforts in the coming year and will bring even greater distinction to our faculty ranks,” Walt said.

The new KSG faculty members are as follows:

Amitabh Chandra, assistant professor of public policy, is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Cambridge, Mass. His current research focuses on the effect of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act on labor markets, the role of medical malpractice litigation on the delivery of health care, and the economics of neonatal health and cardiovascular care.

Daniel A. Hojman, assistant professor of public policy, is interested in issues related to the media market, corporate social responsibility, and polarization in deliberation processes. His main research areas are theoretical and applied microeconomics and political economy.

Karl Kaiser, Ralph I. Straus Visiting Professor, was a director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Bonn/Berlin, for 30 years, and was an adviser to Chancellors Brandt and Schmidt. He holds a joint appointment with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

John H. McCarthy, adjunct lecturer in public policy, is an authority on business, financial reporting, governance, and technical issues for the education and nonprofit industry, and will be affiliated with KSG’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.

Erich Muehlegger, assistant professor of public policy, is interested in industrial organization, economic regulation, and environmental policy. His current research investigates the role environmental regulation of gasoline content plays in gasoline price volatility, and the extent to which price spikes in gasoline markets could be mitigated by uniform regulation.

Alejandro Poiré, Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies, is a leading scholar on the Mexican electoral phenomenon. He has published several articles analyzing public opinion, political culture, campaign dynamics, and voting behavior in Mexico. He will be affiliated with the Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard.

Roger Rosenblatt, Edward R. Murrow Visiting Professor of the Practice of Press and Public Policy, is the author of 10 books published in 13 languages, including “Children of War,” which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize. He also writes essays, books, and plays. His pieces for Time magazine won two George Polk Awards and awards from the Overseas Press Club.

Monica Singhal, assistant professor of public policy, is interested in public finance and labor economics. Her current research focuses on behavioral responses to taxation and the determinants of local public spending patterns.

Federico Sturzenegger, visiting professor of public affairs, is former secretary of economic policy for the Republic of Argentina, and serves as a consultant for international organizations and local and foreign corporations on antitrust issues, strategy, and economic forecasting.

Tommy G. Thompson, the Roy M. and Barbara Goodman Family Visiting Professor of Practice in Public Service, is former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and former governor of Wisconsin (1987-2001).

Alan M. Trager, adjunct lecturer in public policy, serves as senior adviser to the dean for executive education and is a senior fellow at the School’s Center for Business and Government. He focuses on the role of nongovernmental sources in solutions to complex public policy problems.