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BENJAMIN A. OLKEN

MIT Department of Economics, 50 Memorial Dr ive, Cambridge MA 02142 617-***-****

email: ******@***.*** web: econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/bolken

Date of Birth: April 1975

Education

2004 Ph.D., Economics, Harvard University

1997 B.A. summa cum laude, Ethics, Politics, and Economics; Mathematics,

Yale University

Employment

2008presentAssociate Professor of Economics (with tenure),

Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

20102011Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Booth School

20052008Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows

2004 2005 Health and Aging Post-Doctoral Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research

20012008Consultant, The World Bank,

Jakarta Office

19981999Business Analyst, McKinsey and Company, New York

19971998 Luce Scholar in Economic Policy, The Castle Group, Jakarta

Other Affiliations

2010 present Co-Chair of Governance Initiative and Member of Board of Directors

Executive

Committe, Jameel Poverty Actio1n Lab (J-PAL)

2010 present Fellow, Bureau for Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD)

2009presentResearch Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

2006 present Research Affiliate, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

2005 2010 Member, Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

2006 2010 Affiliate, Bureau for Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD)

2005 2009 Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

2005 2008 Visiting Schola r, MIT Department of Economics and Poverty Action Lab

Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships

2005 2008 Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows

2005 Review of Economic Studies Tour (declined)

2004 2005 Health and Aging Post-Doctoral Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research

2003 2004 Justice, Welfare, and Economics Fellowship, Harvard University

2001 2002 Social Science Research Council Fellowship in Applied Economics

1998 2003 National Science Founda tion Graduate Student Fellowship

1997 1998 Henry Luce Scholar

Publications

-566, February 2005.

Working Papers

Should Aid Reward Performance? Evidence from a field experiment on health and education

in

Indonesia

(with Junko Onishi and Susan Wong). May 2011.

The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics

(with Robin Burgess, Matthew Hansen, and Stefanie Sieber). January 2011.

Temperature Shocks and Ec onomic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century

(with Melissa Dell and Benjamin F. Jones) November 2008. NBER Working Paper 14132.

Revise and resubmit requested, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

Research in Progress

Wages and Incentives for Tax Inspectors: Evidence from a field experiment in Pakistan

(with Asim Khwaja and Adnan Kahn)

Self-targeting: Evidence from a field experiment in Indonesia

(with Vivi Alatas, Abhijit Banerjee, and Rema Hanna)

Identifying the Poor: Social Networks and the Aggregation of Information

(with Vivi Alatas, Abhijit Banerjee, Ar un G. Chandrasekhar, and Rema Hanna)

E-Procurement: Evidence from Construction Projects in India and Indonesia

(with Abhijit Banerjee and Rohini Pande).

Research Support

2010-2015 Incentivized Community Block Grants for Health and Education in Indonesia

NIHCD P01 Grant

2011 International Initiative for Impact Evaluation

Self-targeting: Evidence from a field experiment in Indonesia

Co-PI with Abhijit Banerjee and Rema Hanna

2010 2012 International In itiative for Impact Evaluation

Property Tax Experiment in Punjab, Pakistan

Co-PI with Adnan Khan and Asim Khwaja

2010 2012 International Growth Centre

Property Tax Experiment in Punjab, Pakistan

Co-PI with Adnan Khan and Asim Khwaja

2009 2010 International Growth Centre

E-Procurement: Evidence from India and Indonesia

Co-PI with Rohini Pande

2008 2009 World Bank Office Jakarta / Royal Netherlands Embassy Trust Funds

Community-Based Targeting

Co-PI with Vivi Alatas, Abhijit Banerjee, and Rema Hanna

2007 2008 NIH/NICHD R03 Grant

Health Policies and Infant Mortality In Indonesia

co-PI with Amy Finkelstein

2007 2008 Harvard Asia Center Grant

Informal Taxation

co-PI with Monica Singhal

2006 2007 Harv ard Milton Fund

Economic Growth and Infant Mortality in Indonesia

2005 2006 World Bank Office Jakarta / DSF / Royal Netherlands Embassy Trust Fund

The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh

Co-PI with Patrick Barron

2005 2006 World Bank Office Jakarta / DSF Trust Fund

Political Institutions and Local Public Goods

2003 2005 World Bank Office Jakarta / DFID Strategic Poverty Trust Fund

Monitoring Corruption

Other Professional Activities

Associate Editor, Journal of Development Economics

Updated May 2011

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