Evan Herrnstadt is an economist interested in the design and performance of energy and natural resource markets.

Evan earned a BS in economics and political science from the University of Iowa in 2006. After graduating, he was a research assistant at Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, where he worked on energy and climate policy. He moved to the University of Michigan in 2009, where he earned an MA in economics in 2011, and a PhD in economics in 2015. His doctoral research primarily focused on modeling and estimating the effects of environmental requirements on how firms compete for government contracts.

As an Environmental Fellow, Evan worked with Ariel Pakes of the Department of Economics on the implications of common contracting practices in the oil and natural gas drilling industry. He developed improved empirical tools for the analysis of data from natural resource auctions. These insights and tools improved our understanding of important institutions governing energy production, and help to predict the response of the energy industry to climate and environmental policies.

Faculty Host

Ariel Pakes, Department of Economics