Karen R Polenske
Professor of Regional Political Economy and Planning
Room 9-535
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
URL: http://dusp.mit.edu/regional_planning
Email: krp@mit.edu
Tel: (617) 253-6881
Current Research
A collaborative energy and environmental project in the People's Republic of China (China)with colleagues at MIT, University of Tokyo, Swiss Federated Universities, and Chinese Academy of Sciences concerning the technology-energy-environment-health (TEEH) chain, a concept Polenske developed, focusing on the technological and other factors contributing to the rapid decline in energy-intensity in the industrial, household, and township and village sectors in China and the related pollution and health effects. Initial work has been on the coke-making sector in Shanxi Province. A team of 15 multidisciplinary faculty and students, with Professor Polenske as team leader, are now extending their energy and environmental research to include the iron and steel sector in Shanxi Province studying the flows of coal, coke, and steelin Shanxi and Liaoning Provinces. The research team is studying the internal supply chains in the plant, regional supply chains within each region, and coal, coke, and steel global supply chains throughout the world. The project is funded by the Alliance for Global Sustainability plus other funding agencies.
Professor Polenske is also studying the effect of prices on the use of energy in China. Within the last 10 years, price changes are starting to influence energy use and are having differential effects across regions in China. This project is funded by the Center for Energy and Environmental Research Program (CEEPR) at MIT.
She has just completed a project concerning Yellow Dust-Interactive Modeling. The MIT team of faculty and students is working with others from China, Korea, and Japan, the three countries in which the yellow dust from the arid lands in China is now an annual phenomenon. It severely affects transport (closing airports and highways), industry, and also is a great threat to human health, creating both respiratory and eye problems. The team is investigating the sequence of events that lead to the atmospheric transport of the dust and the economic and health effects this has on society. They hope to determine the types of critical interventions needed to reduce the problem and the localities where these interventions will be most effective. This is a new project funded by the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS). The MIT team of faculty and students is working with others from China, Korea, and Japan, the three countries in which the yellow dust from the arid lands in China is now an annual phenomenon. It severely affects transport (closing airports and highways), industry, and also is a great threat to human health, creating both respiratory and eye problems. The team is investigating the sequence of events that lead to the atmospheric transport of the dust and the economic and health effects this has on society. They hope to determine the types of critical interventions needed to reduce the problem and the localities where these interventions will be most effective.
Selected Publications
The Economic Geography of Innovation. Forthcoming 2006. Cambridge University Press (Editor)
The Technology-Energy-Environment-Health (TEEH) Chain in China: A Case Study of Cokemaking. Berlin/Heidelberg/New York: Springer, Forthcoming 2005. (Editor)
Chinese Economic Planning and Input-Output Analysis. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1991. (Co-editor with Chen Xikang.)
"Demand and Cost Impacts of the 2MM Technology Program in the U.S. Motor-Vehicle Market." 2005. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 14(7), 637-655 (co-author with Ciro Biderman and Nicolas O. Rockler.
"Competition, Collaboration, and Cooperation: an Uneasy Triangle in Networks of Firms and Regions . 2004. Regional Studies, Special Issue on Regional Competitiveness." 38 (9): 1029-1045.
"Leontief's Magnificent Machine and Other Contributions to Applied Economics." 2004. In Wassily Leontief and Input-Output Economics, edited by Erik Dietzenbacher and Michael L. Lahr. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press: 9-26.
"Measuring Dispersion Economies." 2004. Entrepreneurship, Spatial Industrial Clusters, and Inter-Firm Networks. Trollhätten, Sweden: Universities of Trollhätten,/Uddevalla (Papers from June 12-14, 2003 Symposium): 615-633 (Co-author with Yu Li).
"Trade and Spatial Economic Interdependence." 2004. Papers in Regional Science. 83 (1): 269-289 (Co-author with Geoffrey JD Hewings).
"Leontief's Contributions to Applied Economics." 2004. In Wassily Leontief and Input-Output Economics, edited by Erik Dietzenbacher, and Michael Lahr) Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 9-26.Closing the Competitive Gap: An Analysis of the ATP 2mm Project. 2004. Prepared for the Economic Assessment Office, Advanced Technology Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST GCR 03-856. (Co-author with Nicolas O. Rockler.
Recent Classes
11.165 Infrastructure in Crisis: Energy & Security Challenges Fall 09
11.477 Infrastructure in Crisis: Energy & Security Challenges Fall 09
11.481J Analyzing and Accounting for Regional Economic Change Spring 10
11.482J Regional Socioeconomic Impact Analyses and Modeling Fall 09
11.800 Doctoral Research Seminar: Research and Its Impact Spring 10
11.941/11.190 Infrastructure in Crisis: Food & Energy Security Fall
11.942 (S07) Regional Energy - Environmental Economic Modeling Spring 07
Recent Awards
Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Fellow. The announcement and introduction of the 2005 Fellows will take place at the 52nd Annual North American Meetings, November 10-12, 2005.
Walter Isard Distinguished Scholar Award. North American Regional Science Association, 1996.
Margarita McCoy Award, Associated Collegiate Schools of Planning, 1999.
Additional Information
Karen R. Polenske received the B.A. in 1959 from Oregon State College in home economics; the M.A. in 1961 from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, in the joint program of public administration and economics; and the Ph.D. in 1966 from Harvard University in economics. She taught and conducted research in the Department of Economics at Harvard University from 1966 to 1972 when she joined the MIT faculty.
In addition to teaching in DUSP, she is head of the International Development Group and director of the multiregional planning research team in the department. For her regional research, she works in the United States and China. She is a member of the MIT Energy Research Council. She is past president of the International Input-Output Association (1995-2001). Professor Polenske does international consulting as a senior economist for the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme, and international and domestic consulting for numerous private consulting firms.
Her publications include eight books; two of the books are forthcoming in 2005 and 2006. She has also published numerous articles in key economic and planning journals.
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