Subhrendu K. Pattanayak, Oak Foundation Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Energy Policy

Subhrendu K. Pattanayak

Subhrendu K. Pattanayak is the Oak Professor of Environmental and Energy Policy at Duke University. He studies the causes and consequences of human behaviors related to the natural environment to help design and evaluate policy interventions in low-income tropical countries. His research is in three domains at the intersection of environment, development, health and energy: forest ecosystem services, environmental health (diarrhea, malaria, respiratory infections) and household energy transitions. He has focused on design of institutions and policies that are motivated by enormous inequities and a range of efficiency concerns (externalities, public goods and imperfect information and competition).

Dr. Pattanayak approaches these problems through systematic reviews of the literature (meta-analyses) and statistical modeling with high-resolution objective data collected in the field. He then uses those data to test hypotheses salient to policy manipulation, developed both from economic frameworks, stakeholder discussions and direct observations in the field. He employs empirical methods that exploit quasi-experimental variation (or experiments where feasible and appropriate), captured through household, community and institutional surveys. He typically matches these survey data with meso-scale secondary statistics and estimates econometric models to generate policy parameters. Dr. Pattanayak has collaborated closely with multi-lateral agencies, NGOs, governments, and local academics in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the U.S.

Office Location:  124 Rubenstein Hall, Box 90312, Durham, NC 27708-0312
Office Phone:  +1 919 613 9306
Email Address: send me a message
Web Page:  http://sites.duke.edu/cookstove/

Teaching (Spring 2024):

Teaching (Fall 2024):

Education:

Ph.D.Duke University1997
Summer Institute in Public HealthHarvard University, Cambridge, MA2004
M.S.Purdue University1992
B.A.St. Stephen's College, Delhi (India)1990
B.A., EconomicsSt. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, India1990
Specialties:

Economics
environmental economics
Economics
environmental health
International Law and Global Health
Keywords:

Adaptation, Psychological • Adolescent • Adult • AIDS Vaccines • Air Pollution, Indoor • Animals • Arsenic • Biodiversity • Child • Child, Preschool • Climate • Climate Change • Conservation of Natural Resources • Consumer Participation • Cooking • Cooking and Eating Utensils • Cost of Illness • Cost-Benefit Analysis • Costs and Cost Analysis • Data Collection • Developing Countries • Diarrhea • Ecosystem • Empirical Research • Energy-Generating Resources • Environment • Environmental Exposure • Environmental Policy • Equipment Design • Family Characteristics • Female • Financing, Government • Financing, Personal • Fuel • Geography • Health • Health Behavior • Health Promotion • Health Services Needs and Demand • Health Status • Humans • India • Indonesia • Indoor air pollution • Infant • Investments • Iron • Malaria • Male • Mexico • Middle Aged • Mining • Models, Econometric • Pilot Projects • Poverty • Program Evaluation • Public Health • Public Health Administration • Regression (Psychology) • Regression Analysis • Reserves • Residence Characteristics • Respiratory Tract Diseases • Respiratory Tract Infections • Rural Population • Sanitation • Seasons • Shame • Social Justice • Socioeconomic Factors • Toilet Facilities • Toilets • Transportation • Trees • Water • Water Microbiology • Water Quality • Water Supply • Young Adult

Current Ph.D. Students  

Representative Publications

  1. Pattanayak, SK; Sills, EO, Do tropical forests provide natural insurance? The microeconomics of non-timber forest product collection in the Brazilian Amazon, Land Economics, vol. 77 no. 4 (January, 2001), pp. 595-612, University of Wisconsin Press [doi]  [abs]
  2. Smith, VK; Pattanayak, SK, Is meta-analysis a Noah's Ark for non-market valuation?, Environmental and Resource Economics, vol. 22 no. 1-2 (June, 2002), pp. 271-296, ISSN 0924-6460 [doi]  [abs]
  3. Smith, VK; Van Houtven, G; Pattanayak, SK, Benefit transfer via preference calibration: "Prudential Algebra" for policy, Land Economics, vol. 78 no. 1 (January, 2002), pp. 132-152, University of Wisconsin Press [doi]  [abs]
  4. Pattanayak, SK; Sills, EO; Kramer, RA, Seeing the forest for the fuel, Environment and Development Economics, vol. 9 no. 1 (January, 2004), pp. 155-179 [repository], [doi]  [abs]
  5. Pattanayak, SK; Yang, JC; Whittington, D; Bal Kumar, KC, Coping with unreliable public water supplies: Averting expenditures by households in Kathmandu, Nepal, Water Resources Research, vol. 41 no. 2 (February, 2005), pp. 1-11 [doi]  [abs]
  6. Pattanayak, SK; Butry, DT, Spatial complementarity of forests and farms: Accounting for ecosystem services, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 87 no. 4 (November, 2005), pp. 995-1008, Oxford University Press (OUP), ISSN 0002-9092 [doi]  [abs]
  7. Pattanayak, SK; Yang, JC; Dickinson, KL; Poulos, C; Patil, SR; Mallick, R; Blitstein, J; Praharaj, P, Shame or subsidy revisited: Social mobilization for sanitation in Orissa, India, Bulletin of World Health Organization, vol. 87 no. 8 (Summer, 2009), pp. 580-587 [19705007], [doi]  [abs]
  8. Pattanayak, SK; Poulos, C; Yang, JC; Patil, SR; Wendland, KJ, Of Taps and Toilets: Quasi-experimental protocols for evaluating community-demand driven projects, Journal of Water and Health, vol. 7 (3) no. 3 (2009), pp. 434-451, ISSN 1477-8920 [19491494], [doi]  [abs]
  9. Ferraro, PJ; Pattanayak, SK, Money for nothing? A call for empirical evaluation of biodiversity conservation investments, PLoS Biology, vol. 4 no. 4 (2006), pp. 482-488, ISSN 1545-7885 [16602825], [doi]
  10. Pattanayak, SK; Pfaff, A, Behavior, Environment, and Health in Developing Countries: Evaluation and Valuation, Annual Review of Resource Economics, vol. 1 no. 1 (October, 2009), pp. 183-217, Annual Reviews, ISSN 1941-1340 [Gateway.cgi], [doi]  [abs]
  11. Pattanayak, SK; Wendland, KJ, Nature's care: Diarrhea, watershed protection, and biodiversity conservation in Flores, Indonesia, Biodiversity and Conservation, vol. 16 no. 10 (September, 2007), pp. 2801-2819, Springer Nature, ISSN 0960-3115 [doi]  [abs]
  12. S.K. Pattanayak, Rough guide to impact evaluation of environmental and development programs, Working Paper (2009), SANDEE [pdf]