Michael Greenstone

Michael Greenstone

Michael Greenstone is the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, the College, and the Harris School, as well as the Director of the Becker Friedman Institute and the interdisciplinary Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). He previously served as the Chief Economist for President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, where he co-led the development of the United States Government’s social cost of carbon. Prof. Greenstone also directed The Hamilton Project, which studies policies to promote economic growth, and has since joined its Advisory Council. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the Econometric Society, and a former editor of the Journal of Political Economy. Before coming to the University of Chicago, Prof. Greenstone was the 3M Professor of Environmental Economics at MIT.

Prof. Greenstone’s research, which has influenced policy globally, is largely focused on uncovering the benefits and costs of environmental quality and society’s energy choices. His current work is particularly focused on testing innovative ways to increase energy access and improve the efficiency of environmental regulations around the world. Additionally, he is producing empirically grounded estimates of the local and global impacts of climate change as a co-director of the Climate Impact Lab. He also created the Air Quality Life Index® that provides a measure of the gain in life expectancy communities would experience if their particulates air pollution concentrations are brought into compliance with global or national standards.

Greenstone Stories

The hidden dangers of low oil prices

Prof. Michael Greenstone says lower oil prices may spell danger for oil-producing state economies


Marketplace/American Public Media

How to Make the Clean Power Plan Affordable

Prof. Michael Greenstone stresses importance of coordinating emissions reductions for states, citing analysis of Clean Power Plan


Scientific American

Can It Work? Economists Grade a Key Part of Obama's Climate Policy

Prof. Michael Greenstone joins top economists in authoring analysis of Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan


What Would Milton Friedman Do About Climate Change? Tax Carbon

Prof. Greenstone, Asst. Prof. Cicala evoke UChicago’s Milton Friedman to justify taxing carbon to combat climate change


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