I am a PhD candidate in Sustainable Development at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. I am on the 2024-2025 job market. Google Scholar.
My PhD program includes the core economics PhD sequence with additional social and natural science training.
From 2021-2022, I served as the Climate Staff Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
I do research on environmental, health, and public economics. Methodologically, I do applied empirical work, e.g., Heat disproportionally kills young people: Evidence from wet-bulb temperature in Mexico was just published in December 2024 (coverage in NYTimes, NPR, AP), as well as applied theory and climate-economy modeling work, e.g., my job market paper Breaking down the mortality and social cost of carbon and my 2021 article The mortality cost of carbon (coverage in NYTimes, NPR, Scientific American).
I previously worked for the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, as a management consultant for Altman Solon, Goldman Sachs, and The Onion (America’s Finest News Source). Outside of research, I enjoy jazz and competitive stair climbing.
Get in touch: rdb2148 (at) columbia.edu
Selected Recent Work
Wilson, A.*, Bressler, R.D.*, Ivanovich, C., Tuholske., Raymond, C., Horton, R., Sobel, A., Kinney, P., Cavazos, T., & Shrader, J. (December 6, 2024). Heat disproportionally kills young people: Evidence from wet-bulb temperature in Mexico. (*equal contribution). Science Advances. Coverage in the NYTimes, NPR, AP, Guardian.
Bressler, R. D. (2021). The mortality cost of carbon. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-12. 247 citations as of 11/13/2024 Coverage in 228 news outlets including New York Times, NPR, Scientific American, Vox. 1st of 1,735 in Nature Communications Altmetric Score. Cited in Supreme Court Case West Virginia Vs. EPA (2022). 2021 Top 25 Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Articles. Best Paper by a Graduate Student awarded by the Oxford University Global Priorities Institute. Weather Channel Interview.
Bressler, R. D., Moore, F. C., Rennert, K., & Anthoff, D. (2021). Estimates of country level temperature-related mortality damage functions. Scientific Reports-Nature, 11(1), 1-10. 38 citations as of 11/13/2024. Coverage in MIT Technology Review, The Conversation, The Guardian, Yale Climate Connections. 96th percentile in Scientific Reports Altmetric Score. Editor’s Choice.
Bressler, R.D., Shimberg, N., Rennels, L., Errickson, F., Parthum, B., Smith, D., & Anthoff, D. Large Disproportionate Mortality Impacts on the Global Poor Drive a Higher Income Weighted Social Cost of CO2. Resubmission invited at Nature.
Bryant, A., Lewy, J., Bressler, R.D., Chopra, Z., Gyori, D., Bazzell, G., Moeller, J., Jacobson, S.,A. Fendrick, A.M., Kerr, E., Ramnath, N., Green, M., Hofer, T., & Strohbehn, G. (2024). The Lancet Oncology. Projected environmental and public health benefits of extended-interval dosing: an analysis of pembrolizumab use in a US national health system. 118 news mentions including NPR.
Bressler, R. D., & Heal, G. (2022). Valuing excess deaths caused by climate change (No. w30648). National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Coverage in Vox. Tweet Thread.
Bressler, R.D. Breaking down the mortality and social cost of carbon (JMP).