Assistant Professor Catherine Hausman is the 2016 - 2017 recipient of the John V. Krutilla Research Stipend Award from Resources for the Future (RFF), an organization that conducts economic research and analysis "to help leaders make better decisions and craft smarter policies about natural resources and the environment."
The award, which honors the environmental economist and longtime RFF fellow John Krutilla, supports research by promising young scholars working in the field of environmental and resource economics.
For Hausman, the stipend has supported an ongoing collaboration with RFF University Fellow Lucija Muehlenbachs (University of Calgary). Hausman and Muehlenbachs have focused on how rate-of-return regulation of natural gas distribution companies affects gas leaks and spending to abate those leaks.
Together, Hausman and Muehlenbachs published an NBER working paper on methane leak repairs. Later, Hausman extended this work with a piece in The Conversation on why utility companies have little incentive to prevent or plug natural gas leaks.
