Lisa Robinson

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Biography

Lisa A. Robinson’s research and teaching focus on the conduct of benefit-cost analysis, particularly for policies with outcomes that cannot be fully valued using market measures. She has led numerous assessments of the costs, benefits, and other impacts of environmental, health, and safety policies and regulations, developed related methods, and drafted guidance documents. She co-edited the National Academies book, "Valuing Health for Regulatory Cost-Effectiveness Analysis," led the creation of benefit-cost analysis guidelines for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and for global public health interventions, and developed approaches for estimating the value of mortality risk reductions (the value per statistical life, VSL) for several government agencies and other organizations. She has explored numerous other methodological issues, including the implications of behavioral economics and happiness (subjective wellbeing) research for benefit-cost analysis, approaches for addressing the distribution of impacts across advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and ethical concerns. She applies these methods in high-, middle-, and low-income settings. Her work addresses a variety of policy issues, including responses to vaccine mandates and to hazard warnings as well as the health impacts of climate change. She has served as a member of several expert advisory groups, including those convened by U.S. Federal government agencies, OECD, the World Health Organization, and other organizations. 

Ms. Robinson serves as Deputy Director of the Center for Health Decision Science is affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis as well as the Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She was previously a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government as well as an Affiliate Fellow of its Regulatory Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a past President of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis and served as a Councilor of the Society for Risk Analysis as well as Chair of its Economics and Benefits Analysis Specialty Group. She is on the Editorial Boards of Risk Analysis and the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis.

For related publications, see: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/lisa-robinson/publications/

Education and Training

• BA, Political Science/International Relations
  Carleton College
• MPP, Public Policy
  Harvard Kennedy School

Awards and Honors

• Best Paper Award, Risk Analysis, 2023
  Risk Analysis, An International Journal
• Fellow, Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis, 2022
  Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis
• Outstanding Practitioner Award, Society for Risk Analysis, 2021
  Society for Risk Analysis
• Best Symposium Award, Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 2019
  Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis
• Fellow, Society for Risk Analysis, 2016
  Society for Risk Analysis
• Richard O. Zerbe Distinguished Service Award, Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis, 2015
  Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis
• Richard J. Burk Outstanding Service Award, Society for Risk Analysis, 2013
  Society for Risk Analysis

Publications

• Adopting electric school buses in the United States: Health and climate benefits.

  Choma EF, Robinson LA, Nadeau KC. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024 May 28

• Balancing Investments in Health Care and Social Determinants-The Need for Benefit-Cost Analysis.

  Glied S, Robinson LA. JAMA Health Forum 2023 Dec 01

• The benefits and costs of U.S. employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

  Ferranna M, Robinson LA, Cadarette D, Eber MR, Bloom DE. Risk Anal 2023 10

• Valuing COVID-19 Morbidity Risk Reductions.

  Robinson LA, Eber MR, Hammitt JK. J Benefit Cost Anal 2025

• Introduction to Special Issue on Risk Assessment, Economic Evaluation, and Decisions.

  Hammitt JK, Robinson LA. Risk Anal 2021 04