Schiller Institute welcomes environmental economist
Environmental economist Edson Severnini has joined the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society as an Institute Professor and core faculty member and also been jointly appointed an associate professor in the Economics Department.
Severnini’s research explores the places where energy, environmental, and health economics intersect, with particular emphasis on climate change, energy transitions, and the historical impacts of pollution and electrification on local communities. He is also interested in how climate change influences air pollution, electricity generation, and infectious diseases.
“Every day, we benefit from pollution-producing activities,” said Severnini, who comes to BC from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a tenured associate professor of economics and public policy. “I want to know the real economic cost of exposure to pollution, particularly the effect on human health. With that knowledge, I want to try to understand the processes, policies, technology, and changes in human behavior that could minimize pollution, yet keep the benefits of the many activities that currently pollute.”
He said he was drawn to the position by work being done by the institute and its three core faculty members, as well as researchers from other areas of the University. In particular, he was excited about advancing his research findings into action to benefit the common good.
“The fact that the Schiller Institute focuses on research and action on health, energy, and the environment, it could not be a better fit for me,” said Severnini, who joins fellow Schiller Institute core faculty Institute professors Jier Huang, Hanqin Tian, and Yi Ming. “My research has been centered on those three areas. On my visit, everyone was so collegial and willing to work across disciplinary lines. That did it for me.”
Describing Severnini as a “world-class economist,” Schiller Institute Seidner Family Executive Director Laura J. Steinberg said he would be a valuable addition to the institute.
"Edson's research on decarbonization pathways and the economic dimensions of climate-driven health risks advances the mission of the Schiller Institute to promote the scientific understanding of critical societal issues in energy, environment, and health. With his knack for engaging others and identifying areas of mutual interest, Edson is quickly showing himself to be the collaborative scholar-leader that characterizes the Schiller Institute and its Core and Affiliated Faculty members."
“Every day, we benefit from pollution-producing activities. I want to know the real economic cost of exposure to pollution, particularly the effect on human health. With that knowledge, I want to try to understand the processes, policies, technology, and changes in human behavior that could minimize pollution, yet keep the benefits of the many activities that currently pollute.”
A native of Brazil, Severnini earned his doctorate at the University of California-Berkeley. His research has taken him back to his home country to examine the economic and social costs and benefits of hydroelectric dams on local communities. He has also studied how consumer power in local communities in Mozambique has been impacted by climatic shocks, such as severe flooding and parching drought.
In addition, Severnini is working with colleagues to determine the impact of efforts to reduce carbon emissions in South Africa’s iron and steel industry, which is nearing the end of a six-year transition to a tax on carbon emissions. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Severnini is in a collaboration with researchers from South Africa, China, and Germany to determine country-by-country options that hold the most promise to reduce emissions in the steel industry.
Severnini looks for ways to conduct quasi-experimental research into how humans are affected by environmental impacts by exploring existing data—be it consumer spending, weather events, industrial policies—to determine if these can reveal causal relationships relative to public health and well-being.
For a recent project, he and Andrea La Nauze of Australia’s Deakin University were granted access to anonymous user data from brain-training games by Lumosity and paired that with air pollution measurements to reveal that exposure to airborne particulate matter impairs adult cognitive function, especially for individuals in prime working ages from 18 to 50. The findings, which the researchers reported in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, hold implications for productivity, potential dementia diagnoses, and income inequality.
Severnini holds research fellowships at the United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research and the Institute of Labor Economics, and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
This spring, Severnini is teaching the Schiller Institute course Health and the Environment: People, Policy, and Technology, which is cross-listed with Economics, Environmental Studies, and Global Public Health and the Common Good.