2026 Benjamin A. Olken: Economics and Finance Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Economics and Finance	55	1030	920	639	558	328	26081

Overview

Benjamin A. Olken is affiliated with MIT in the United States and specializes in social sciences with a particular focus on sociology, political science, and economics. Their research covers a range of interrelated subfields including health, safety research, and global and planetary change.

Their academic output demonstrates engagement with several key topics, including:

Misinformation and Its Impacts
Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
Taxation and Compliance Studies
COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts
Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

Olken's recent papers showcase their multidisciplinary approach and interest in public health, economics, and environmental studies. Notable publications include:

"Comparison of Knowledge and Information-Seeking Behavior After General COVID-19 Public Health Messages and Messages Tailored for Black and Latinx Communities," 2020, Annals of Internal Medicine
"Cumulative Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs: Experimental Evidence from Indonesia," 2020, American Economic Journal Economic Policy
"Effects of a large-scale social media advertising campaign on holiday travel and COVID-19 infections: a cluster randomized controlled trial," 2021, Nature Medicine
"The Economics of Tropical Deforestation," 2023, Annual Review of Economics
"End COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries," 2022, Science

Their collaborative work often involves frequent co-authorship with several researchers, including:

Emily Breza
Marcella Alsan
Arun G. Chandrasekhar
Esther Duflo
Abhijit Banerjee

Olken's publications are represented across diverse venues, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of their work. Frequent publication outlets include:

Harvard Dataverse
AEA Randomized Controlled Trials
SSRN Electronic Journal
AEA Papers and Proceedings
American Economic Review

The scope of their research integrates insights into economic policy, public health messaging, social behavior, and environmental economics, focusing especially on impacts relevant to low- and middle-income countries.

Best Publications

What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature

Melissa Lynne Dell;Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin A. Olken

2764
Citations
Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia

Benjamin A. Olken

2638
Citations
Temperature Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century

Melissa Lynne Dell;Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin A. Olken

1811
Citations
Corruption in Developing Countries

Benjamin A. Olken;Rohini Pande

1526
Citations
Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II

Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin A. Olken

1483
Citations
Corruption perceptions vs. corruption reality

Benjamin A. Olken

1167
Citations
Temperature and Income: Reconciling New Cross-Sectional and Panel Estimates

Melissa Dell;Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin Olken

952
Citations
The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics

Robin Burgess;Matthew Hansen;Benjamin Olken;Peter Potapov

809
Citations
The Anatomy of Start-Stop Growth

Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin A. Olken

690
Citations
Targeting the Poor: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia

Vivi Alatas;Abhijit Banerjee;Rema Hanna;Benjamin A Olken

635
Citations
Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia

Benjamin A. Olken

604
Citations
Corruption and the costs of redistribution: Micro evidence from Indonesia

Benjamin A. Olken

588
Citations
Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II*

Unknown

586
Citations
The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics

Robin Burgess;Matthew Hansen;Benjamin A. Olken;Peter Potapov

586
Citations
Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages

Benjamin A. Olken

503
Citations
The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh

Benjamin A. Olken;Patrick Barron

490
Citations
Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia

Benjamin A. Olken;Benjamin A. Olken;Benjamin A. Olken

459
Citations
Temperature and Income: Reconciling New Cross-Sectional and Panel Estimates

Melissa Lynne Dell;Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin A. Olken

450
Citations
Debunking the Stereotype of the Lazy Welfare Recipient: Evidence from Cash Transfer Programs

Abhijit V. Banerjee;Rema Hanna;Gabriel E. Kreindler;Benjamin A. Olken

446
Citations
Climate Shocks and Exports

Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin A. Olken

441
Citations
The Missing “Missing Middle”

Chang-Tai Hsieh;Benjamin A. Olken

425
Citations
The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh

Patrick Barron;Benjamin Olken

417
Citations
Tax Farming Redux: Experimental Evidence on Performance Pay for Tax Collectors

Adnan Q. Khan;Asim I. Khwaja;Benjamin A. Olken

382
Citations
Climate Change and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century

Melissa Dell;Benjamin F. Jones;Benjamin Olken

366
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Abhijit Banerjee MIT

Rohini Pande Yale University

Robin Burgess London School of Economics and Political Science

Amy Finkelstein MIT

Esther Duflo MIT

Michael Kremer University of Chicago

Lawrence F. Katz Harvard University

Peter Potapov University of Maryland, College Park

Chang-Tai Hsieh University of Chicago

Benjamin M. Jones University of Alaska Fairbanks

External Links

Wikipedia of Benjamin A. Olken Personal website of Benjamin A. Olken

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