I am an environmental and labor economist interested broadly in how environmental factors shape economic opportunity. I am particularly interested in the effects of the natural environment on labor and human capital outcomes, the process of adaptation to environmental change, and the implications of climate change for economic inequality. I received a PhD in economics from Harvard University (2017) where I was an NSF Fellow, and master’s degrees in Environmental Change and Management (MSc) and Development Economics (MSc) from Oxford University (2010, 2011), where I was a Rhodes Scholar.
Currently, I am an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with appointments in the School of Social Policy and Practice (primary) and the Wharton School’s Department of Business Economics and Public Policy (secondary). I am also a research affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), and a faculty affiliate of the California Policy Lab (CPL), the Wharton ESG Initiative, and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.
CV | email: rjpark at upenn dot edu | twitter: @rjisungpark