Paulina Oliva is a Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC). Before joining USC, she was an Associate Professor of Economics at UC Irvine and an Assistant Professor at UC Santa Barbara. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley (2009). She has a B.A. in Economics from Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in México. Paulina is an Editor at the Review of Economics and Statistics, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and an affiliate of BREAD, J-PAL, and CEGA. Paulina’s research lies at the intersection of Environmental and Development Economics. She has examined the effects of air pollution on health and economic outcomes in developing countries, as well as individual protective behaviors such as migration and short-run adaptation. Her work explores household and firm responses to environmental policy—including studies on bribery in vehicle emissions testing, technology adoption, and the design of cost-effective subsidies for clean fuels. Her recent projects also engage with Urban Economics, particularly in relation to the expansion of public transit systems in large developing cities.
