Bård Harstad on "The Economics of Conservation"
301 19th Ave S
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
2025 Jon Goldstein Memorial Lecture
In this year's Jon Goldstein Memorial Lecture, we'll hear Bård Harstad of Stanford University present his research, "The Economics of Conservation."
Professor Harstad previews his upcoming lecture with this: "Environmental conservation is often viewed as being in conflict with economic growth. But because of the connection, environmentalists must understand the tools of economics and, in fact, employ them to their advantage. In this lecture, I explain how fundamental insights in economics have inspired my own research on why it is difficult to conserve nature and how we can, nevertheless, succeed."
Following his talk, Professor Harstad will be joined by Jessica Donohue, Bob Litterman, and Richard Sandor for a roundtable discussion. Register today for this important event.
Our Speaker:
Bård Harstad

Bård Harstad is the David S. Lobel Professor in Business and Sustainability and Professor of Political Economy at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability. He also holds a courtesy appointment as Professor of Economics in the School of Humanities and Sciences and serves as the Srivani Faculty Fellow for 2024–2025. His academic expertise lies in environmental economics, political economics, and economic theory. Before joining Stanford in 2023, Harstad held the Max McGraw Chair in Management & Environment at the Kellogg School of Management and was a professor at the University of Oslo. He has also taught at esteemed institutions such as Harvard, MIT, and the Toulouse School of Economics. Harstad has received numerous accolades, including the HumSam Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Sciences (2023), an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (2022), and election as a Fellow of both the Econometric Society and the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (2021). His groundbreaking work in environmental economics has earned him the prestigious Erik Kempe Award twice (2013, 2019). In addition to his research and teaching, Harstad serves as an editor for the Review of Economic Studies.
Our Panelists:
Richard Sandor
Richard L. Sandor is CEO of Environmental Financial Products (EFP), which was the incubator to the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and the American Financial Exchange (AFX). Among Dr. Sandor’s academic roles, he is currently the Aaron Director Lecturer in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School and an honorary Professor at the School of Economics at Fudan University and the University of Hong Kong.
Bob Litterman
Bob Litterman is chairman of the Risk Committee and a founding partner of Kepos Capital, an investment firm in New York. Litterman serves as director of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, Climate Central, the World Wildlife Fund, the Climate Leadership Council, and the Heller Hurwicz Economics Institute at the University of Minnesota. He also serves as advisor to the Natural Capital Project and the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.
Jessica Donohue
Jessica Donohue is a senior advisor for a not-for-profit organization, the Investor Leadership Network. ILN works with some of the world's largest asset allocators (pensions, sovereign wealth and asset managers) on climate investment and private capital mobilization. Jessica has held several global leadership positions including executive vice president and head of Global Investment Insights, Sustainability and Impact at State Street, head of the Asset Owner Segment, head of the Global Clients Division (GCD) responsible for building strategic relationships with our largest and most complex clients, head of Performance and Analytics, and head of State Street Associates, our partnership with leading academics. She has held teaching positions at Brandeis University and the University of Minnesota. Her research has been published in the International Economic Review, the Emerging Markets Review and Finance Research Letters. She currently sits on a number of private and nonprofit boards including FNZ Trust Company, Berklee City Music Advisory Board, which provides educational opportunities for talented youth in underserved communities, and All In Together, which encourages women to engage in America’s civic and political life.
Jon Heller Goldstein devoted 35 years to public service as an economist working tirelessly to improve the environment and reduce poverty through investment in human capital. In 1964, Dr. Goldstein earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota and went on to play several key roles in the Social Security Administration, Department of the Interior, and on the Endangered Species Committee. Dr. Goldstein's distinguished career with the Department of the Interior, his seminal work on wetlands conservation, and numerous articles on the impact of federal programs on wetlands will leave a lasting legacy on environmental policy.
The Jon Goldstein Memorial Lecture on Economics and Environmental Policy was established through the generosity of the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family.