Rema Hanna
Jeffrey Cheah Professor of South-East Asia Studies and Chair of the International Development Area, Harvard Kennedy School
International & Global Affairs International Development
Profile
Salata Institute Sponsored Projects
Outside professional activities

Profile

Rema Hanna is the Jeffrey Cheah Professor of South-East Asia Studies and Chair of the International Development Area at the Harvard Kennedy School. She serves as the Faculty Director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard University’s Center for International Development and is the co-Scientific Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South East Asia Office in Indonesia. In addition, Professor Hanna is a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and an affiliate and board member of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD). Her research revolves around improving the provision of public services in developing and emerging nations, particularly for the very poor. She combines economic theory, qualitative field work, extensive data collection, and cutting‐edge empirical analysis to offer insights into how governments function and how they can do better. Part of her work focuses on how to improve overall service delivery, as well as understanding the impacts of corruption, bureaucratic absenteeism, and discrimination against disadvantaged minority groups on delivery outcomes. She is particularly interested in how governments can improve and strengthen social protection, tax collection, and environmental safety. Her work has been published in leading economics journals, such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy, among others. In addition to her own research, Professor Hanna is currently on the editorial board at the American Economic Review and previously was on the board of Review of Economics and Statistics and VoxDev and served as a co‐Editor at the Journal of Human Resources. Prior to joining the Harvard Kennedy School, Hanna was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at New York University. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a B.S. from Cornell University with Honors and Distinction.
Expertise
International Development
Public Service Delivery

Salata Institute Sponsored Projects

The Salata Institute is committed to supporting research that promises to make a real-world impact on the climate crisis. The Climate Research Clusters Program and Seed Grant Program deliver on this commitment by funding new and interdisciplinary climate research that address the many dimensions of the climate challenge.

Seed Grant: Studying electricity subsidies, consumption in developing world

Outside professional activities

Outside Professional Activities

In the spirit of transparency and integrity, Salata Institute Faculty Associates disclose publicly their key professional activities outside of Harvard University. The activities disclosed below are for the most recent reporting period, as defined by University policy. Some of the activities may be paid, some may be unpaid, and others may be in exchange for expense reimbursement only.

Outside Professional Activities For Rema Hanna
Organizations:
Relationships:
american economics association
Editorial Services
Asian Development Bank
Speaking engagement, invited lecture, or presentation
Association for Mentoring and Inclusion in Economics (AMIE)
Fiduciary Board Membership
BREAD
Membership on a scientific or other advisory board
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
Research or teaching appointment
Center for Global Development
Research or teaching appointment
IMAGO
Fiduciary Board Membership
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Research or teaching appointment
JPAL SEA at University of Indonesia
Research or teaching appointment
JPAL South Asia
Research or teaching appointment
JPAL-MIT
Membership on a scientific or other advisory board
JPAL-MIT
Research or teaching appointment
MEL lab at UM6P in Morocco
Research or teaching appointment
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Research or teaching appointment
Open Philanthropy Project
Paid external reviewer
Wellesley
Speaking engagement, invited lecture, or presentation
World Bank
Consulting
World Bank
Speaking engagement, invited lecture, or presentation
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
THE SALATA INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE AND SUSTAINABILITY

The Salata institute

The Salata Institute supports interdisciplinary research that leads to real-world action, including high-risk/high-reward projects by researchers already working in the climate area and new endeavors that make it easier for Harvard scholars, who have not worked on climate problems, to do so.