Academic Faculty
Full Time Teaching Faculty
Hajin Kim
Assistant Professor of LawBiography
Hajin Kim is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Law School. She uses principles from social psychology and economics to study how moral and social influence can shape environmental regulation and firm behavior.
Hajin received her BA in economics, summa cum laude, from Harvard, her JD from Stanford Law School, and her PhD from Stanford's Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. Before attending Stanford, Hajin worked for the Boston Consulting Group. She clerked for Judge Paul Watford of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the US Supreme Court.
Education
Stanford University
PhD, 2020
- Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources
- Dissertation: Markets, Morality, and the Environment
- Co-advisers: Buzz Thompson, Dale Miller
- Committee members: Rob MacCoun, Eric Lambin
JD, 2014
- Urban A. Sontheimer Third-Year Honors (graduated 2nd in class)
- Kirkland & Ellis Scholar; Pro Bono Distinction
Harvard University
BA, 2007
- Economics major, with citations in Korean and Spanish
- Honors: summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa (1 of 24 elected in junior year), Detur Book Prize, John Harvard Scholar
- Thesis: Proximity-concentration & Network Effects: A Panel Data Analysis of the Impact of Immigration on U.S.-inward FDI. Adviser: Pol Antràs
- Study abroad: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile & Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile; Fall 2005)
Experience
University of Chicago Law School
Assistant Law Professor, 2020–present
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court
Law Clerk, 2016–2017
Judge Paul J. Watford, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Law Clerk, 2014–2015
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Summer Associate, Menlo Park, CA, Summer 2013
Natural Resources Defense Council
Legal Intern, Beijing, China, Summer 2012
Climate Action Reserve
Legal Intern, Los Angeles, CA, Summer 2012
Boston Consulting Group
Associate; Consultant, Chicago, IL, 2008–2011
Publications
Journal Articles
- "Does Paying to Pollute Make Pollution Seem Less Bad?," __ Journal of Law and Empirical Analysis __ (2025) (forthcoming) (Winner of the Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences Young Investigator Award). ssrn
- "Does ESG Crowd In or Out Public Support for Regulation?," __ American Law and Economics Review __ (2025) (forthcoming) (with Joshua C. Macey & Kristin Underhill). ssrn
- "Expecting Corporate Prosociality," 53 Journal of Legal Studies 267 (2024). www
- "Financially Equivalent But Behaviorally Distinct? Pollution Tax and Cap-and-Trade Negotiations," 52 The Environmental Law Reporter 10809 (2022) (with K.C. P. Hirsch). www
- "Foreword (Symposium on The Economic Structure of Corporate Law at Thirty: A Retrospective on the Work of Easterbrook & Fischel)," 1 The University of Chicago Business Law Review iii (2022) (with Anthony J. Casey & Joshua C. Macey). www
- "Can Mandating Corporate Social Responsibility Backfire?," 18 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 189 (2021). www
- "Scaling Up Solutions for a Sustainability Transition," 3 One Earth 89 (2020) (with Eric F. Lambin, Jim Leape & Kai Lee). www
- "Default Neglect in Attempts at Social Influence," 114 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 13643 (2017) (with Julian J. Zlatev, David P. Daniels & Margaret K. Neal).
- "How Disciplinary Major and Collaborative Context Can Impact Environmental Decisions," 14 Environmental Education Research Bulletin 7 (2017). www
- "Ecolabels and Competition: Eco-certification Effects on the Market for Environmental Quality Provision," 22 New York University Environmental Law Journal 181 (2015).
- "An Argument for WTO Oversight of Ecolabels," 33 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 421 (2014).
- "Do Trade Liberalization and International Trade Law Constrain Domestic Environmental Regulation?," 43 The Environmental Law Reporter 10823 (2013).
Working Papers
- "Bivalent Moral Judgments," (2023) (with Julian J. Zlatev & Dale Miller).
- "Corporate Character," (2023) (with Yuval Feldman).
- "The Aggregation Effect: When the Same Punishment Appears More Severe and Increases Punishment Satisfaction," (2023) (with Simone Tang & Genevieve Helleringer).
Other Publications
Presentations
- 2024: Online Workshop on the Computational Analysis of Law; Soshnick Colloquium in Law & Economics at Northwestern University Law School; Duke Law School Law & Social Science; Coase-Sandor Ten-Year Anniversary Celebration; American Law & Economics Association Conference; NYU Environmental & Energy Law Colloquium; Georgetown Corporate Governance Workshop; Taboo Trades podcast; Conference on Empirical Legal Studies; Air & Waste Management Association Annual Air Conference; Legal Scholarship in an Era of Climate Change
- 2023: American Bar Foundation; University of Pennsylvania Law & Psychology Seminar; ASU SCALE; Coase Sandor & ETH Zurich Junior Faculty Forum in Law & Social Science; Conference on Empirical Legal Studies; Berkeley Law and Economics Workshop; University of Pennsylvania symposium honoring Professor Jill Fisch; Israeli Corporate Governance workshop; Trans-Pacific Business Law Webinar; University of Virginia law faculty workshop; University of Chicago Law School faculty workshop (twice); Climate Institutions Conference
- 2022: Peking University Public Lecture; Queen’s Law, Law and Economics Seminar; Berkeley Center for Law and Business; Oxford Law and Finance Workshop; Midwest Law and Economics Conference; Notre Dame Law & Economics Seminar; Texas A&M EnviroSchmooze; UC Santa Barbara Environmental Law Professor Workshop; American Law & Economics Association Conference; Society for Environmental Law and Economics; Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law, Law & Economics Workshop; Georgetown Law Environmental Research Workshop; Conference on Empirical Legal Studies
- 2021: Booth School Center for Decision Research Workshop; University of Toronto Law & Economics Workshop; Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability Conference; Conference on Behavioral Ethics and Corporate Governance
- 2020: Behavioral Ethics in Corporate Governance presentation; Virtual Law & Economics Conference; EPIC: What a Conservative Supreme Court Could Mean for Climate Policy in the Biden Administration; UCLA Climate & Energy Seminar; Early-Career Energy Scholars Workshop; USC Faculty Workshop
- 2019: Santa Barbara Faculty Workshop; UC Hastings Faculty Workshop; Chicago Faculty Workshop; Michigan Faculty Workshop; Duke Faculty Workshop; Georgetown Law Faculty Workshop; Cornell Faculty Workshop; Minnesota Faculty Workshop; Stanford Faculty Workshop; Sabin Colloquium; Stanford SEE Research Review
Awards and Honors
- Time-Sharing Experiments in Social Science Young Investigator Competition winner, 2023
- Study design for Does Paying to Pollute Make Pollution Seem Less Bad?, after peer review, won competition and thus full funding for larger-scale study through NORC
- Berkeley Center for Law and Business Best Paper Award, 2022
- Junior scholar award for Expecting Corporate Prosociality
- One of 70 submissions for junior and senior award
- Stanford Center of Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS) fellowship, 2018–2019
- Stanford E-IPER and McGee/Levorsen summer research grants, 2016, 2018
- New York University Environmental Law Journal competition winner, 2014
- For Ecolabels and Competition: Eco-certification Effects on the Market for Environmental Quality Provision
- Stanford Law School Carl Mason Franklin Award, 2014
- For Do Trade Liberalization and International Trade Law Constrain Domestic Environmental Regulation?
- Stanford Law School Olaus & Adolf Murie Award, 2014
- For An Argument for WTO Oversight over Ecolabels
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation Stanford Graduate Fellow, 2012–2014, 2015–2016
Service
- Reviewer/Referee: American Law and Economics Review, Corporate Law Journal
- Co-organizer, Chicago-Michigan Psychology and Lab Studies group (2020-on)
- Hiring committee (University of Chicago Law School; 2024-2025)
- Clerkship committee (University of Chicago Law School; 2020-2021, 2022-2023)
- Stanford E-IPER JD-MS, MBA-MS capstone project review (provided guidance for MS student research); E-IPER Executive Committee, residency policy sub-committee (helped draft new policy); E-IPER Admissions
- Stanford Environment and Behavior Group (member; contributor); Stanford Environmental Law Journal (senior and executive editor); Stanford Asian-Pacific Islander Law Students’ Association (academic chair); Volunteer Attorney Program (provided pro bono legal services)
Languages
Korean (highly proficient); Spanish (proficient); Mandarin (basic)