MIT Sloan faculty profile
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Cited in: Catherine D. Wolfram
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About Academic Groups Applied Economics Academic Area Economics, Finance and Accounting Catherine Wolfram is the William Barton Rogers Professor of Energy Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She previously served as the Cora Jane Flood Professor of Business Administration at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. From March 2021 to October 2022, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate and Energy Economics at the U.S. Treasury, while on leave from UC Berkeley. Since March 2025, Wolfram has served on the COP30 President’s Council on Economics, Finance, and Climate and chaired a working group on climate coalitions. Before leaving for government service, she was the Program Director of the National Bureau of Economic Research's Environment and Energy Economics Program and a Research Affiliate at the Energy Institute at Haas. Before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard. Wolfram has published extensively on the economics of energy markets. Her work has analyzed rural electrification programs in the developing world, energy efficiency programs in the US, the effects of environmental regulation on energy markets and the impact of privatization and market restructuring in the US and UK. She is currently working on projects at the intersection of climate, energy, and trade, including work on carbon border adjustment mechanisms and oil market sanctions. She received a PhD in economics from MIT in 1996 and an AB from Harvard in 1989. Honors Wolfram elected to the National Academy of Sciences June 11, 2026 Catherine Wolfram (William Barton Rogers Professor in Energy and Professor of Applied Economics) has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for 2026, recognizing her “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the NAS is a private, nonprofit institution that recognizes achievement in science by election to membership. Along with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine, it provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. The new NAS members from MIT were announced and profiled in a recent MIT News article. Wolfram elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences April 23, 2025 Catherine Wolfram, the William Barton Rogers Professor in Energy and a professor of Applied Economics at MIT Sloan, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and will be formally inducted in October 2025. Founded in 1780, the Cambridge, Mass.-based American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together, as expressed in its charter, “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” According to a press release, the Academy’s work has helped set the direction of research and analysis in science and technology policy, global security and international affairs, social policy, education, the humanities, and the arts. Other notable Academy members include early Americans such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. Other distinguished members have included Margaret Mead, Jonas Salk, Barbara McClintock, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aaron Copland, Martha Graham, John Hope Franklin, Georgia O’Keeffe, E.O. Wilson, and Madeleine Albright. The Academy’s current members represent today’s innovative thinkers in every field and profession, including more than 250 Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners. A list of current Academy members in Economics (Wolfram’s field) is available here. Publications Google Scholar Featured Publication "Strengthening Enforcement of the Russian Oil Price Cap." Johnson, Simon and Catherine Wolfram. Brookings Institution Working Paper (2024). Appendix. Featured Publication "Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary." Clausing, Kimberly and Catherine Wolfram. Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 37, No. 3 (2023): 137-162. Download Working Paper. "Building a Climate Coalition: Aligning Carbon Pricing, Trade, and Development." Global Climate Policy Project Working Group on Climate Coalitions. In Global Climate Policy Project at Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA: September 2025. "The Global Effects of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms." Clausing, Kimberly A., Jonathan M. Colmer, Allan Hsiao, and Catherine Wolfram, Working Paper. September 2025. NBER Working Paper No. 33723. "Who Bears the Burden of Climate Inaction?" Clausing, Kimberly A., Christopher R. Knittel, and Catherine Wolfram. In Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, September 2025. "Climate Policy Reform Options in 2025." Bistline, John, Kimberly A. Clausing, Neil R. Mehrotra, James H. Stock, and Catherine Wolfram. Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy Vol. 6, No. 1 (2025): 101-139. Recent Insights Press Why climate change is costing U.S. households hundreds of dollars a year From insurance premiums to energy bills, a new study from MIT Sloan shows how Americans are already paying the price of climate change, and climate inaction, driven by extreme weather. Apr 7, 2026 Read Article Press How modeling scenarios informed the emergence of a global carbon market coalition at COP30 The Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets, announced by leaders from 10 countries and the European Union, draws from a proposal from the Global Climate Policy Project at Harvard and MIT. Nov 7, 2025 Read Article Media Highlights Press Time Magazine How climate change is making your life more expensive Jun 11, 2026 A paper by associate dean for climate and sustainability Christopher Knittel, professor Catherine Wolfram, and co-author found that climate change is already costing U.S. households between $400 and $900 a year, on average. "Even if you don't live in tornado alley, you might be seeing your insurance rates go up to cover the cost for people who are in the more danger-prone areas," said Wolfram. Read Article Press The New York Times As oil prices spike, talk of 'demand destruction' sets in Jun 7, 2026 In the short term, said professor Catherine Wolfram, "people just can't afford these higher prices, and so are being forced to find alternatives. The most worrying thing is the demand that's not destroyed: the purchases of gasoline or jet fuel or diesel that people still have to make at these much higher prices." Read Article Press Marketplace Checking in on demand destruction, 9 weeks into the war May 6, 2026 In this interview, Professor Catherine Wolfram explained how demand destruction driven by a surge in oil prices since the start of the conflict has impacted consumers. "The longer the supply shock goes on, the more it's not a shock. It's just the new normal," she said. Read Article Press WBUR $900 a year: That's how much climate change costs the average US household Apr 7, 2026 In this "Cognoscenti" opinion piece, professors Catherine Wolfram, Christopher Knittel, and co-author wrote: "In a research paper slated for publication in the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) later this spring, we document the key vectors through which climate change affects household costs. We have found that climate change now costs the average American household $900 each year, while the annual price tag exceeds $1,300 per year for 10% of U.S. counties." Read Article
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