Assistant Professor
Business Economics & Public Policy 
Robert J. Aresty, W’63 Faculty Scholar 

The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania​

CV
​Click here to view my CV

Contact
322 Vance Hall
3733 Spruce Street, Philadelphia
sberkou@wharton.upenn.edu

I study microeconomics in the context of environment, energy, and climate in low-income contexts. My work examines the individual and institutional factors that affect the role of energy and the environment in the economy, and how these will drive global changes in how our economy interacts with these sectors in the coming decades. Specific projects have studied energy consumption and the adoption of energy efficient technologies by low-income households, the role of government electricity programs and investments in alleviating poverty and stimulating economic growth, and environmental risk mitigation.

I am an affiliate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). 
At the University of Pennsylvania, I am affiliated with: 

• The Penn Environmental Innovations Initiative 
• The Penn Development Research Initiative
• The Wharton Climate Center at Wharton's new Environmental, Social, and Governance Initiative 
• Analytics at Wharton​
• The Penn Program on Regulation

I teach Microeconomics for Managers in Wharton's MBA program. I also co-organize the Development Economics seminar, the Energy Economics and Finance seminar, and the Applied Economics Workshop. 

I have a PhD from UC Berkeley (where I was affiliated with the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business), an MA International and Development Economics from Yale University, and a BSc Statistics from the University College London. I was also an EPoD Research Fellow at Harvard University, and before that worked in international trade finance in London, Johannesburg, and Nairobi.

Please use they/them pronouns when referring to me.