#  Karl M Aspelund 

Environmental Fellow: 2025-2027

PhD, Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

 

 



   ![a person smiling wearing a suit](/sites/g/files/omnuum10846/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-05/karl-aspelund01_crop.jpg?itok=AhvImXA2) 

 



 

 email <karlaspelund@fas.harvard.edu> 

 



 

*Karl M. Aspelund uses models grounded in economic theory, paired with spatial and administrative data, to design environmental policies that advance equity, efficiency, and sustainability.​*  
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Karl received his AB from Harvard College in 2017 in Environmental Science and Public Policy. He completed his PhD in Economics at MIT in 2025, where he focused on environmental economics and industrial organization. His research examines the design of environmental regulations, particularly market-based mechanisms such as cap-and-trade programs and offset markets. Drawing on tools from market design, empirical industrial organization, and public economics, he assesses the effects of regulatory design choices and simulates alternative policy frameworks that better meet social goals. His work includes studying equity in permit markets, targeting additional landowners in conservation market, and the effectiveness of different spatial policy instruments under economic and ecological uncertainty.​  
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As an Environmental Fellow, Karl will work with Joseph Aldy, the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of the Practice of Environmental Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to continuing his research on demand for additionality in conservation markets, he will begin new projects on the energy transition and sustainable development, including the design of tradeable energy tax credits, competitive innovation subsidy schemes, and clean energy subsidies in low-income countries with substantial captive generation.​

Faculty host: Joseph Aldy, Harvard Kennedy School



 

 

 





 

 

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