Jenna Allard, a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at the Harris School, explored electrification policy and environmental regulation in developing countries. Previously, she worked on energy and environment issues in the private, non-profit, and policy sectors for nearly a decade. Allard spent three years working as a research manager at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), which conducts evaluations to test and improve the effectiveness of policies and builds partnerships with policymakers to ensure those policies are driven by evidence and able to be scaled up. At J-PAL, Allard managed energy and environment projects across seven states in India and supervised field activities that included surveys of 30,000 households and 9,000 businesses. Her projects ranged from industrial air and water pollution regulation, to electricity allocation and tariff revision, to solar micro-grid development and fuel efficiency.
“I’m especially interested in the intersection of development and environmental economics. Specifically, I want to understand how better policies can effectively extend clean, reliable and affordable electricity to rural households,” says Allard. “Over one billion people in the world remain in the dark, and many more lack access to reliable high-capacity power that can be a key ingredient for economic growth. Through this fellowship, I hope my research will help extend electricity to households in India and beyond.”