Rebecca Toseland ’07 brings Economics and Environmental Studies together in Policy Research and Teaching at Yale

Rebecca Toseland is a Senior Lecturer II in Yale’s Department of Economics and Director of Research Support at the Tobin Center for Economic Policy. Her research and teaching span a range of domestic policy issues, including economic mobility, education, housing, health, and the environment, with fields of interest in environmental, labor, and public economics.

Rebecca earned her B.A. in Economics and Environmental Studies from Yale. As an undergraduate, her senior essay, Beyond the Environmental Kuznets Curve: The Political Economy of Pollution Control in Post-World War II Japan, was advised by Professor Robert Mendelsohn and explored the intersection of economic development, political institutions, and environmental regulation.

After Yale, Rebecca earned an M.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before returning to Yale, she was a Research Scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and a Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Harvard University.

At Yale, Rebecca combines policy research with undergraduate teaching and mentorship. She teaches ECON 4491, The Senior Essay, supporting Economics majors as they undertake independent research, as well as ECON 0002, Social Issues in America, a First-Year Seminar that uses economics and data to examine contemporary issues including economic opportunity, education, health, climate change, criminal justice, and discrimination.

Rebecca’s career illustrates how an interdisciplinary foundation in Environmental Studies and economics can lead to work at the intersection of research, teaching, and public policy.