Bio: Rachel Young is Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow at the Goldman School of Public Policy and Global Policy Lab at UC Berkeley. Rachel holds a PhD in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. During her PhD she worked for the White House's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) where she advised senior White House officials on issues related to climate resilience. Before starting at Princeton, Rachel was a full-time research assistant for Professor Jesse Rothstein at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley. Rachel also worked as policy analyst for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, in Washington D.C., where she researched national energy efficiency policies and programs. She holds an MPP from the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley and a BA in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College.
Research: Rachel uses quantitative methods and machine learning to understand the social impacts of climate change and natural disasters. Specifically, she examines the long-run effects of tropical cyclones on health and migration in the U.S. She uses machine learning to predict tropical cyclone damages to buildings using aerial images. Rachel also uses private individual big data to estimate the costs and benefits of individual- and place-based disaster response policies. She is currently evaluating the effect of FEMA’s property acquisition (buyout) program on participant’s moves and economic health years after they participate in the buyout.
Fields of interest: environmental hazards, migration, causal inference, public finance
