Frank Wolak

Frank Wolak is the Holbrook Working Professor of Commodity Price Studies in the Economics Department and the Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University. He received his undergraduate degree from Rice University, and an S.M. in Applied Mathematics and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. He specializes in the study of privatization, competition and regulation in network industries such as electricity, water supply, railroads, telecommunications, natural gas, and postal delivery services. Wolak's recent research has focused on design and monitoring of energy and environmental markets.From April 1998 to April 2011, he was Chair of the Market Surveillance Committee (MSC) of the California Independent System Operator. In this capacity, he has testified numerous times at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and at various Committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives on issues relating to market monitoring and market power in electricity markets. Wolak was also a member of the Emissions Market Advisory Committee (EMAC) for California's Market for Greenhouse Gas Emissions allowances from January 2012 to December 2014. This committee advised the California Air Resources Board on the design and monitoring of the state's cap-and-trade market for Greenhouse Gas Emissions allowances. He recently co-authored a National Academies of Sciences study entitled, Modernizing the Freight Rail Regulation.