Richard D. Morgenstern
Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future

Morgenstern has a distinguished academic record as an economist as well as extensive national and international policy experience. His current research focuses on the economic analysis of environmental issues, and on the use of economic incentives in environmental management. He has written extensively on the costs and benefits of environmental regulation; on the design of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and the evaluation of existing policies across different media.

Immediately before joining RFF he was Senior Economic Counselor to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs at the U. S. Department of State. Previously, he served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where he acted as Deputy Administrator (1993) and as Assistant Administrator for Policy, Planning and Evaluation (1991-93). Morgenstern first joined EPA in 1983 as Director of the Agency’s key analytic arm, the Office of Policy Analysis – a position he held for more than a decade. In that capacity he managed the Agency’s economic analysis and research programs, he participated actively in rulemakings across all environmental media, and he led the EPA team that developed the first comprehensive comparative risk ranking, Unfinished Business. He has testified before Congress on a wide range of energy, environmental and economic matters. Earlier in his career Morgenstern worked on Capitol Hill, including the Congressional Budget Office, and at the Urban Institute.

Formerly a tenured economics professor at the City University of New York, he has recently taught at Oberlin College, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Yeshiva University in New York, and American University in Washington, D.C. He earned his Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Michigan and his B.A. from Oberlin College (with High honors).