Karen R. Polenske

Last updated
Karen Rosel Polenske
Born (1937-03-20) March 20, 1937 (age 86)
Nationality American
Academic career
Institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Field Regional science, economic development, political economy
Alma mater Harvard University
Syracuse University
Influences Wassily Leontief
Contributions Input-output model
Awards Regional Science Association International Fellow (2005)

Karen Rosel Polenske (born March 20, 1937) is an American regional economist specialized in energy, environmental, and infrastructure analyses, and input-output accounts and models, particularly at the subnational scale. She is currently the Peter de Florez Professor of Regional Political Economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Contents

Polenske received her undergraduate degree in Home Economics from the Oregon State University in 1959. She holds a master's degree in public administration and economics from Syracuse University and a PhD in economics from Harvard University, where she was in charge of the regional work at the Harvard Economic Research Project. Working with Wassily W. Leontief, she directed one of the most extensive multiregional input-output research studies of the U.S. economy in history.

She has been director of the multiregional planning research team at MIT since 1972. She is also past president of the International Input-Output Association. Polenske has been an advisor to international agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the World Bank, as well as an economic consultant to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Awards

We consider [Polenske's] work to be an absolute exemplar of an industry studies book due to its focus on a particular industry, its close contact with people in that industry at multiple levels, its theoretical and empirical grounding, its impact on the industry, and its potential impact as a model for industry studies across countries

Sloan Industry Studies Selection Committee, on Polenske's book The Technology, Energy, Environmental-Health (TEEH) Chain in China: A Case Study of Cokemaking, winner of the Sloan Industry Studies 2008 Best Book Award

In 2007, Polenske received special recognition from Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for having "contributed substantially to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)," thus contributing to the IPCC's award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2005 she became a lifetime Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Fellow, in recognition to significant scholarly and research contributions to the field of regional science. In 1999, she received the Margaret McCoy Award, for her outstanding contribution towards the advancement of women in planning at institutions of higher education through service, teaching, and research, and in 1996 she was awarded the Walter Isard Distinguished Scholar Prize for distinguished long-term achievements in the field of Regional Science.

Selected publications

Her publications include eight books, and numerous articles in key economic, energy, environmental, and planning journals, establishing her as a leading political economist.

Recent articles

Books

Edited volumes

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Karen R. Polenske (1980). Multiregional Input-output Analysis: The U.S. input-output accounts and model. Lexington Books. ISBN   978-0-669-02173-8.
  2. Karen R. Polenske (1974). State Estimates of Technology, 1963. Lexington Books. ISBN   978-0-669-87007-7.
  3. Karen R. Polenske, ed. (2007). The Economic Geography of Innovation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0521689533.
  4. The technology-energy-environment-health (TEEH) chain in China. Worldcat. OCLC   179430510.