Wikipedia

Solomon Hsiang

Solomon M. Hsiang is an American scientist and economist who directs the Global Policy Laboratory and is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.[1] He co-founded the Climate Impact Lab[2] and is a National Geographic Explorer. Hsiang’s work has been featured in media articles and impacted policy across international and US federal institutions.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Education

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In 2006, he received a B.S. in Ocean and Atmospheric Physics, writing a thesis on “Ozone chemistry during global glaciations” advised by R. Alan Plumb, and a B.S. in International Development and Regional Planning, both from MIT. He was mentored by David Autor, Esther Duflo, and Kerry Emanuel.

In 2011, Hsiang received a PhD in Sustainable Development at Columbia University. His dissertation developed new methods to integrate climate science, economics, and political science. His thesis advisors were Mark Cane and William Bentley MacLeod. Hsiang completed postdoctoral appointments at Princeton University with Michael Oppenheimer and the National Bureau of Economic Research with Wolfram Schlenker and David Lobell.

Career

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Hsiang joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in 2013 in the Goldman School of Public Policy, where he was tenured in 2015 and promoted to full professor in 2018. At Berkeley he founded the Global Policy Laboratory, an interdisciplinary research group focused on using data science to understand the effects of global environmental change and international policy on economics, conflict, health, and agriculture. In 2019 he was a visiting professor at Stanford University.

Hsiang co-founded the Climate Impact Lab with Robert Kopp, Michael Greenstone, and Trevor Houser, a collaboration of climate scientists, economists, and computational experts. The lab conducts research and advises governments and companies.[10]

Research

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Hsiang’s work is characterized by applying econometrics and machine learning to questions that bridge science and economics.

Climate change

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Hsiang’s work on the economics of climate change demonstrated that high temperatures and hurricanes slowed economic growth,[11][12][13][14] including in the United States.[15] Hsiang’s research indicates climate change could reduce economic output and increase economic inequality.[16] In a 2017 New York Times op-ed,[17] Trevor Houser and Hsiang calculated that Hurricane Maria likely destroyed 26 years of economic development in Puerto Rico.

Hsiang and his coauthors demonstrated that climate changes influence the likelihood of violence in human societies around the world and throughout history.[18][19][20] Hsiang’s team has calculated that global warming will increase crime and civil conflict.[21]

In a 2014 analysis, Hsiang and coauthors demonstrated that extended periods of extreme temperatures increased migration in Indonesia.[22] With Adam Sobel, he demonstrated that weak temperature gradients in the tropics could cause extreme migrations even in a +2C warming scenario.[23] Hsiang’s team has analyzed the effectiveness of multilateral policies, such as lifting the UN moratorium on international trade of elephant ivory,[24] geoengineering,[25] and law of the sea.[26]

Health

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In a 2020 analysis, Hsiang’s team calculated that mortality from climate change could exceed 2018 mortality rates for all infectious diseases worldwide.[27] In work with Marshal Burke and coauthors, Hsiang and his team demonstrated that high temperature increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico.[28] Jesse Anttila-Hughes and Hsiang showed that 12% of infant mortality in the Philippines could be traced to typhoons.[29]

In 2020, an analysis by Hsiang and the Global Policy Lab demonstrated that non-pharmaceutical interventions were highly effective as slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2.[30][31] They calculated that by April 2020, policies prevented 495 million infections. In an interview with The Rachel Maddow Show, Hsiang stated that “[these policies] were a historic feat… that saved more lives in a shorter period than anything else in human history.”[32]

Awards

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Hsiang received the Science for Solutions Award given by the American Geophysical Union for “significant contributions in the application and use of Earth and space sciences to solve societal problems.”[33] In 2014, he was listed by Forbes Magazine in their 30 under 30 list. He was named a Kavli Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, an AI for Earth Innovation Fellow at Microsoft Corporation and the National Geographic Society in 2019,[34] and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation in 2020. He was awarded the President’s Medal by the Geological Society of America in 2020.[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Solomon Hsiang | Faculty & Affiliated Academics | Faculty & Directories | Goldman School of Public Policy | University of California, Berkeley". gspp.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  2. ^ "About the Climate Impact Lab". Climate Impact Lab. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  3. ^ Obama, Barack (2017-01-13). "The irreversible momentum of clean energy". Science. 355 (6321): 126–129. Bibcode:2017Sci...355..126O. doi:10.1126/science.aam6284. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 28069665. S2CID 30991274.
  4. ^ USGCRP (2018). "Fourth National Climate Assessment". nca2018.globalchange.gov. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  5. ^ "Macroeconomic and Financial Policies for Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Literature". IMF. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  6. ^ "General Insurance Stress Test 2019 Scenario Specification, Guidelines and Instructions" (PDF). Bank of England.
  7. ^ "Expected Costs of Damage From Hurricane Winds and Storm-Related Flooding" (PDF). Congressional Budget Office.
  8. ^ "CBO's Projection of the Effect of Climate Change on U.S. Economic Output" (PDF). Congressional Budget Office.
  9. ^ "The Economics of Climate Change: A First Fed Conference". Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  10. ^ "Getting physical: assessing climate risks". BlackRock. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  11. ^ Hsiang, Solomon M.; Jina, Amir S. (2014-07-31). "The Causal Effect of Environmental Catastrophe on Long-Run Economic Growth: Evidence From 6,700 Cyclones". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ Burke, Marshall; Hsiang, Solomon M.; Miguel, Edward (November 2015). "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production". Nature. 527 (7577): 235–239. Bibcode:2015Natur.527..235B. doi:10.1038/nature15725. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 26503051. S2CID 4383518.
  13. ^ Carleton, Tamma A.; Hsiang, Solomon M. (2016-09-09). "Social and economic impacts of climate". Science. 353 (6304): aad9837. doi:10.1126/science.aad9837. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 27609899. S2CID 206645956.
  14. ^ Hsiang, Solomon; Kopp, Robert; Jina, Amir; Rising, James; Delgado, Michael; Mohan, Shashank; Rasmussen, D. J.; Muir-Wood, Robert; Wilson, Paul; Oppenheimer, Michael; Larsen, Kate (2017-06-30). "Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States". Science. 356 (6345): 1362–1369. Bibcode:2017Sci...356.1362H. doi:10.1126/science.aal4369. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 28663496. S2CID 217546780.
  15. ^ Deryugina, Tatyana; Hsiang, Solomon M. (2014-12-15). "Does the Environment Still Matter? Daily Temperature and Income in the United States". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ Plumer, Brad; Popovich, Nadja (2017-06-29). "As Climate Changes, Southern States Will Suffer More Than Others". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  17. ^ Hsiang, Solomon; Houser, Trevor (2017-09-29). "Opinion | Don't Let Puerto Rico Fall Into an Economic Abyss (Published 2017)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  18. ^ Hsiang, Solomon M. (2010-08-31). "Temperatures and cyclones strongly associated with economic production in the Caribbean and Central America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (35): 15367–15372. Bibcode:2010PNAS..10715367H. doi:10.1073/pnas.1009510107. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2932627. PMID 20713696.
  19. ^ Hsiang, Solomon M.; Burke, Marshall; Miguel, Edward (2013-09-13). "Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict". Science. 341 (6151). doi:10.1126/science.1235367. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 24031020. S2CID 1277105.
  20. ^ Hsiang, Solomon M.; Meng, Kyle C.; Cane, Mark A. (August 2011). "Civil conflicts are associated with the global climate". Nature. 476 (7361): 438–441. Bibcode:2011Natur.476..438H. doi:10.1038/nature10311. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 21866157. S2CID 4406478.
  21. ^ Wallace-Wells, David (2017-07-14). "The Uninhabitable Earth, Annotated Edition". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  22. ^ Bohra-Mishra, Pratikshya; Oppenheimer, Michael; Hsiang, Solomon M. (2014-07-08). "Nonlinear permanent migration response to climatic variations but minimal response to disasters". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (27): 9780–9785. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111.9780B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1317166111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4103331. PMID 24958887.
  23. ^ Hsiang, Solomon M.; Sobel, Adam H. (2016-06-09). "Potentially Extreme Population Displacement and Concentration in the Tropics Under Non-Extreme Warming". Scientific Reports. 6 (1): 25697. Bibcode:2016NatSR...625697H. doi:10.1038/srep25697. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4900031. PMID 27278823.
  24. ^ Hsiang, Solomon; Sekar, Nitin (2016-06-13). "Does Legalization Reduce Black Market Activity? Evidence from a Global Ivory Experiment and Elephant Poaching Data". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ^ Proctor, Jonathan; Hsiang, Solomon; Burney, Jennifer; Burke, Marshall; Schlenker, Wolfram (August 2018). "Estimating global agricultural effects of geoengineering using volcanic eruptions". Nature. 560 (7719): 480–483. Bibcode:2018Natur.560..480P. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0417-3. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 30089909. S2CID 51939867.
  26. ^ Englander, Gabriel (October 2019). "Property rights and the protection of global marine resources". Nature Sustainability. 2 (10): 981–987. doi:10.1038/s41893-019-0389-9. ISSN 2398-9629. S2CID 203987221.
  27. ^ "Global death rate from rising temperatures projected to surpass the current death rate of all infectious diseases combined". Climate Impact Lab. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  28. ^ Burke, Marshall; González, Felipe; Baylis, Patrick; Heft-Neal, Sam; Baysan, Ceren; Basu, Sanjay; Hsiang, Solomon (August 2018). "Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico". Nature Climate Change. 8 (8): 723–729. Bibcode:2018NatCC...8..723B. doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0222-x. ISSN 1758-6798. S2CID 53997020.
  29. ^ Anttila-Hughes, Jesse; Hsiang, Solomon (2013-02-18). "Destruction, Disinvestment, and Death: Economic and Human Losses Following Environmental Disaster". Rochester, NY. SSRN 2220501. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. ^ Hsiang, Solomon; Allen, Daniel; Annan-Phan, Sébastien; Bell, Kendon; Bolliger, Ian; Chong, Trinetta; Druckenmiller, Hannah; Huang, Luna Yue; Hultgren, Andrew; Krasovich, Emma; Lau, Peiley (August 2020). "The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic". Nature. 584 (7820): 262–267. Bibcode:2020Natur.584..262H. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2404-8. hdl:1903/26870. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32512578. S2CID 219552534.
  31. ^ Achenbach, Joel; Meckler, Laura. "Shutdowns prevented 60 million coronavirus infections in the U.S., study finds". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  32. ^ "Humankind achieves historic feat in slowing coronavirus spread". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  33. ^ "Solomon Hsiang". Honors Program. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  34. ^ "Eleven Changemakers Chosen as Recipients of Microsoft and National Geographic AI for Earth Innovation Grants: New grant offers awards of more than $1.2 million to advance uses of artificial intelligence in scientific exploration and research on critical environmental challenges". National Geographic Society Newsroom. 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  35. ^ "GSA News Release 20-21". www.geosociety.org. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
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