Faculty
Jacquelyn Pless is the Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and an Assistant Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Her research interests are in the economics of innovation, energy and environmental economics, and public economics. In particular, her research explores the drivers of innovation for social progress with a focus on energy and environmental innovation. Her current projects are examining the effects of policies, their interactions, and management on firms' and scientists' innovations and decision-making.
Before joining academia, Jacquelyn held various positions in the public and private sectors. She started in policy, working in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and then at the National Conference of State Legislators supporting state and tribal governments on energy policy and project finance issues. She was also a research economist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the head of analytics for a boutique consulting firm helping companies in their reorganizations.
Jacquelyn is also an Honorary Research Associate with the University of Oxford, a Research Affiliate of CESifo, and a Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow on stakeholder capitalism. She holds MS and PhD degrees in mineral and energy economics from the Colorado School of Mines and a BA in economics and political science from the University of Vermont (Honors College).
Featured Publication
"Pass-Through as a Test for Market Power: An Application to Solar Subsidies."Pless, Jacquelyn, and Arthur A. van Benthem. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics Vol. 11, No. 4 (2019): 367-401. Online Appendix. Data Set. NBER Working Paper No. 23260.
Featured Publication
"Are ‘Complementary Policies’ Substitutes? Evidence from R&D Subsidies in the UK."Pless, Jacquelyn (Revise and Resubmit, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy), MIT Sloan Working Paper 5788-18. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, September 2023.
Buckman, Joseph R., Idris Adjerid, and Catherine E. Tucker. Management Science Vol. 69, No. 1 (2023): 342-350.
Pless, Jacquelyn. In Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, edited by Benjamin Jones and Josh Lerner, 107-147. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2023. NBER Working Paper.
Popp, David, Jacquelyn Pless, Ivan Hascic, and Nicholas Johnstone. In The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, edited by Aaron Chatterji, Josh Lerner, Michael J. Andrews, and Scott Stern, 175-248. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2022.
Lu, Yangsiyu, and Jacquelyn Pless, MIT Sloan Working Paper 6487-21. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, September 2021.
While substantial innovation is needed to enable the transition to clean energy systems, evidence is limited as to what policy mechanisms actually work to help drive private-sector innovation.
In Innovation Strategy and Innovation Analytics, new methods for success in high-tech industries.
Jacquelyn Pless has studied which kinds of corrective actions are meaningful in a corporate context.
"Climate policy efforts are starting to see success, but inaction and delays have motivated stakeholders to search for complementary solutions."
Prof. Jacquelyn Pless writes: "The air quality improvements and emissions reductions that we’re seeing today are undoubtedly temporary.”
A new whitepaper released by Prof. Jacquelyn Pless identifies five key challenges to evaluating energy innovation policies and programmes.
