Joseph P. Kalt

Joseph P. Kalt (born 1951) is an American economist and the Ford Foundation Professor (Emeritus) of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His research focuses on governance and economic development, particularly in American Indian reservations and Indigenous communities worldwide.

In 1987, he co-founded the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development (formerly the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development) with Stephen Cornell, and continues to serve as co-director. Kalt is recognized for his expertise in the economics of antitrust, economic development, international trade, government regulation, and taxation. From the mid-1980s until 2019, he worked as a Senior Economist at Compass Lexecon and its predecessors, providing advisory and expert witness services on regulation, taxation, and economic development to various national and international governments, including those of Thailand., China, Canada, Poland, Indonesia, and numerous Indigenous nations.

Early life and education

Kalt was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, and graduated from Palo Verde High School in 1969. During high school, he participated in student government, played football, wrestled, swam, and was a delegate to Arizona Boys State and Boys Nation. He attended Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics with University distinction and departmental honors in 1973.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Kalt received a Chancellor's Intern Fellowship in Economics (one of two awarded in 1973) and began the PhD program in economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). During his first year of graduate studies at UCLA, he worked as a Junior Staff Economist on President Gerald Ford’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1974 to 1975. In this position, he worked with Council Chairman Alan Greenspan and Council Member Paul W. MacAvoy on issues related to energy, transportation, financial markets, international trade, and agricultural regulation. Kalt returned to UCLA in 1975, where he completed his Master's degree in 1977 and his PhD in 1980, with a doctoral thesis titled "Federal Control of Petroleum Prices: A Case Study of the Theory of Regulation."

Academic career

Kalt joined the Department of Economics at Harvard University as an Instructor in 1978. Upon completion of his doctorate in 1980, he became an Assistant Professor and, in 1983, became an Associate Professor of Economics. In the Department of Economics, he taught courses in the Principles of Economics (earning the Allyn Young Prize for Excellence in the Teaching of the Principles of Economics in 1978-1979 and 1979-1980), Microeconomics, and graduate and undergraduate Industrial Organization and Regulation. Kalt also served as an editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics over 1979-84, on the editorial board of the MIT Press series on Regulation of Economic Activity over 1984-92, on the editorial board of Economic Inquiry (1988-2002), and as a peer referee for numerous academic journals in economics and public policy.

In 1981, Kalt became a Research Fellow at the Energy and Environmental Policy Center at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (“HKS”), and shortly after began teaching courses in energy and natural resource policy at the School (which is the university's graduate school of public policy and management). In 1986, Kalt became a tenured professor of Political Economy at HKS, and subsequently the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy in 1992. In 2012, he became Emeritus Professor, and he continues to teach and direct his research programs at HKS.

At Harvard's Kennedy School, Kalt's teaching responsibilities have included courses in Microeconomics for Public Policy, Antitrust and Regulation, Energy and Natural Resources, and Indigenous Nation Building. In addition, he has served as assistant director for Natural Resources in HKS's Energy and Environmental Policy Center (1985–90) and Chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Program of the School's Center for Science and International Affairs (1990–94), as well as the School's Chair of Ph.D. programs (1989–90), Chair of Degree Programs (1990–92), Academic Dean for Research (1992–94), and Chair of the Economics and Quantitative Methods Section (1995-2000).

In addition to his positions at Harvard University, Kalt has held numerous guest and visiting faculty positions with other institutions. These include serving as a visiting professor at the University of Arizona’s Rogers College of Law in multiple years beginning in 2008, Eller College of Management over 2005-10, and American Indian Studies Program in various years beginning in 2008. Kalt has also served as faculty in the teaching programs of Arizona’s Native Nations Institute. From 1983-91, he served as Lecturer in the Economics Institute for Federal Administrative Law Judges, University of Miami School of Law. In 2013, he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Auckland Business School. Kalt was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2016 by Alfred University upon his delivery of the keynote address inaugurating Alfred’s new president, Mark A. Zupan.

Research and service

Industry regulation

In 1979, Kalt, in collaboration with Kenneth J. Arrow, published Petroleum Price Regulation: Should We Decontrol?. This was followed by the 1981 publication of Kalt's doctoral thesis by MIT Press, titled The Economics and Politics of Oil Price Regulation: Federal Policy in the Post-Embargo Era. These works, along with several related publications by Kalt, offer a detailed analysis of the economics and politics of petroleum industry regulation in the United States during that period. Kalt continued his research on the regulation of the natural gas industry, contributing to Drawing the Line on Natural Gas Regulation (edited with Frank C. Schuller, 1987) and New Horizons in Natural Gas Deregulation (edited with Jerome Ellig, 1995).

Several publications by Joseph P. Kalt, including Capture and Ideology in the Economic Theory of Politics (1984) and The Apparent Ideological Behavior of Legislators: On-the-Job Consumption or Just a Residual? (1990), co-authored with Mark A. Zupan, are frequently cited for their analysis of how political representatives' personal views and those of their constituents influence regulatory policymaking. Similar themes are addressed in Kalt's research on international trade policy, such as The Political Economy of Protectionism: Tariffs and Retaliation in the Timber Industry (1988), The Impact of Domestic Environmental Regulatory Policy on U.S. International Competitiveness (1988), and Do Precedent and Legal Argument Matter in the Lumber CVD Cases? (1996).

Kalt's expertise in the economics of regulation, energy, and natural resources has been sought by numerous organizations. Resulting engagements have included: Commissioner, President's Commission on Aviation Safety (1987–88); Steering Committee of the National Park Service’s 75th Anniversary Symposium (1991-93); Advisory Committee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Energy Division (1987-89). In addition, Kalt served over 1979-2000 as a principal lecturer in the Program of Economics for Journalists, Foundation for American Communications, teaching economic principles to working journalists in the broadcast and print media.

Indigenous governance and development

In 1986, Kalt was approached by the Crow Tribe of Montana to provide pro bono advice on the Tribe’s energy-related economic development opportunities. By 1987, Kalt, in collaboration with Professor Stephen Cornell from Harvard’s Department of Sociology, had established the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (“Harvard Project” or “Project”). Located at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, the Project aims to identify effective strategies for strengthening the economies, social conditions, institutions, and cultures of Indigenous communities, as well as to understand what does not work. Through its teaching, pro bono advising, service, and collaborations, the Project strives to make its research findings valuable to leaders, policymakers, and managers in Indigenous affairs.

The Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development is noted for its significant contributions to the “nation building” movement among the more than 570 federally-recognized American Indian nations, which began in the late 1970s and gained momentum with the adoption of federal policies supporting tribal self-government in the late 1980s. This movement is evident in economic data showing that the incomes of individuals on Indian reservations grew more than three times faster than the average U.S. income, and on-reservation poverty was reduced by half between 1989 and 2021. The Project has been recognized for its role in documenting and analyzing this progress, earning awards such as the National Congress of American Indians’ Public Sector Leadership Award (2010) and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s First American Public Policy Award (2005). Academically, Kalt’s and Cornell’s research has been acknowledged for its rigorous methods and insights, with work on the cultural foundations of successful tribal government receiving nominations for best peer-reviewed research article and the Project's methods being highlighted as models for development scholars

Kalt’s research, much of it conducted in collaboration with Stephen Cornell, identifies several key factors that influence the success of contemporary Indigenous communities in overcoming long-standing disempowerment and social and economic challenges:

• Sovereignty. Indigenous self-determination through local self-government is working. When Indigenous nations make their own decisions, they consistently outperform outside decision-makers.
• Institutions. Assertions of tribal sovereignty must be backed by the ability to govern effectively. Stable governing structures and policies, fair and independent mechanisms for dispute resolution, and a separation of politics from day-to-day business and public sector management are key.
• Culture. Success in revitalizing Indigenous nations requires culturally grounded institutions of self-government that enjoy legitimacy among tribal citizens. With hundreds of different cultural systems, Indigenous communities are teaching the world that one size does not fit all and that effective governing solutions do not have to look “western”.
• Leadership. Self-determined success in nation building rests upon the capacities of leaders. Whether they are elected, community, or spiritual leaders, key individuals are called upon to carry out the necessary decisions that direct nations. Even more, they are “educators” who inform and inspire citizens to act.

Among Kalt's key publications on indigenous governance and development are:

• The State of the Native Nations: Conditions under U.S. Policies of Self-Determination (a principal author, with The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development), Oxford University Press, 2008.
• What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development, ed. (with Stephen Cornell), University of California, 1992.
• American Indian Self-Determination Through Self-Governance: The Only Policy That Has Ever Worked, statement before the Commission on Native Children, December 15, 2022.
• “The Role of Constitutions in Native Nation Building: Laying a Firm Foundation,” in M. Jorgensen, ed., Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development, University of Arizona Press, 2007.

Consulting

During his tenure as a Senior Economist at Compass Lexecon and its predecessors, and prior to his retirement in 2019, Joseph P. Kalt provided expert testimony before the U.S. Congress asnd various state, federal, tribal, and international arbitration and judicial tribunals. He also served as an arbitrator and mediator in disputes within the coal, oil and gas, and railroad sectors. His career engagements included:

• For 25 years, Kalt served as the lead economic witness for Canada and various Canadian provinces in the softwood lumber trade dispute with the United States, modeling the economic effects of a wide range of harvest, tariff, and quota policies.
• With extensive experience in the railroad sector, Kalt testified in several U.S. federal proceedings concerning mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. industry, frequently making the case for merger terms and conditions that would help rationalize the nation's rail network. These proceedings included the merger of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroads and the merger of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railway.
• As an expert in energy sector competition and regulation, Kalt provided analyses on behalf of private parties and governments in numerous antitrust, trade policy, tax, and contract disputes in the oil, gas, electric power, and petrochemical sectors.
• Working on behalf of both interested private and governmental parties and arbitration panels across various U.S. and international arbitrations, Kalt engaged in expert analyses of the economic issues raised in disputes in industries ranging from life insurance and gaming to government minerals taxation and private equipment leasing.

Other professional activities

Joseph P. Kalt is involved in various boards and councils where his expertise is applicable. In the area of Indigenous affairs, his roles include: founding member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Economic Research of Indigenous Peoples (2019–present); chair (2010–2020) and vice-chair (2020–present) of the Board of Directors of the White Mountain Apache Tribe's Fort Apache Heritage Foundation, Inc.; founding board secretary (2016–2020) of the Native Governance Center; member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors for the Navajo Nation (2016–2018); and advisory board member of the Chickasaw Nation's Community Development Entity (2014–present). He has also served as a mediator in tribal-state and tribal-federal disputes, including those between the Nez Perce Tribe and the North Central Idaho Jurisdictional Alliance (MOU signed 2002), and between the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (MOU signed 1994).

In addition to his work in Indigenous affairs, Kalt's service includes: member of the Board of Advisors of the National Institute for Civil Discourse (2011–present); Board of Directors of the Sonoran Institute (2008–present); Investment Committee member of the Board of Imago Dei Middle School (2022–present); Investment Committee member of the Board of the Women’s Foundation for the State of Arizona (2015–2018); Honorary Advisory Board member of Centro Artistico y Cultural de Huachinera, Sonora, Mexico (2009–2015); National Advisory Board member of the Big Sky Institute at Montana State University (2007–2011); and Board of Trustees member of The Communications Institute (2003–2014).

Personal life

Kalt married Judith Kaye Gans in 1977. They have two children: Jody, who is married to Tammy Yun Kalt and has two children, Madeline and Joseph Oliver; and Annie, who is married to Jeffrey Michael Berens and has two children, Naomi and Zera. After raising their family in the Boston area, Kalt and his wife now reside in Tucson, Arizona, and at their long-time family ranch south of Billings, Montana. Kalt is an avid cutting horse competitor and has won the World Senior Champion title in the $50,000 Amateur division of the National Cutting Horse Association in 2019 and 2020. He also serves as a regional director of the Association.