In September of 2018, I started a course titled the Economics of Climate Change, or ECON 347, taught by Professor Robert Cairns. The subject matter intrigued me because I had no idea as to how economics influenced the environment and vice versa. Professor Cairns made this material very comprehensible for someone like myself who had minimal knowledge of it. In the winter semester, I registered for another course with him. During this class, I realized that I wanted to learn how to apply environmental economics to the real world. I approached Professor Cairns with the idea of wanting to do research with him and he welcomed it.
After the winter semester, Professor Cairns was starting research on determining an international climate agreement that does not involve free-riding. Agreements like the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols have both had incidences of free-riding, where there are far too many member countries involved, and the uncommitted members do not do their share in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or complying to the agreement. Instead, they rely on those who are committed to reducing emissions as a way of making the agreement appear successful, when in reality it has failed or lost its efficiency. In economic game theory, this is known as the prisoners’ dilemma. My role as a research intern was to study this dilemma in more detail and to see what could be done to make climate agreements successful.
After having spoken to my professor about researching together, I came across the ARIA program webpage. What appealed the most to me was the concept of presenting my research. To me, there is nothing more fruitful than showcasing the hard work that is put into an important experience, and ARIA could give me the opportunity to do so with my internship. Without ARIA, I imagine that I would have worked just as hard on my summer research, but there would have been fewer advantages available to me. The ARIA program forced me to become more organized in my research because I knew I had to do my best in sharing my experience with other students. I also had to represent my program, my professor, and myself in the best way possible.
Over the course of my research, my biggest objective was to learn how to take our research topic into my own hands. Essentially, at the weekly meetings with my professor, I wanted to have something new and profound to share about our research. I wanted to see if it were possible for me to teach something to Professor Cairns. This is important to me because I believe that it can greatly help me in graduate school, where I will be conducting research on my own topics. I also wanted to learn whether applied environmental economics was for me. Fortunately, I learned that this is the field of economics that I am most passionate about. However, while I loved the environment and subject I researched in, the biggest challenge I encountered was having to deal with the emotional stress that comes with researching a topic as negative as climate change. Everyday, my research showed me how little is being done by some countries to help our planet. I would feel mad and upset, and then speak to my professor about how I felt like there was no hope for a successful climate agreement. His hopefulness and calm demeanor towards my concerns always showed me how to handle this difficult research. As an economist, I had to trust the market forces in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, rather than focus my energy on what politicians are doing to solve the problem.
While my internship was filled with some difficult times, I always think back to and miss the weekly meetings I had with Prof. Cairns. He would invite two of his master’s students in at the same time, so that we could jointly share our research findings. In this way, I learned not only from my professor, but from his students as well. I hope to find a community like this with the students and faculty I share my research with.
