Lorena Popescu

I am an applied economist working across energy, environmental, and health economics. My research evaluates how energy and environmental policies affect household consumption, affordability, and health, using causal inference methods applied to large administrative datasets.

I am a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Padua and ARERA, the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment, where I evaluate Italy's electricity and gas social bonus using administrative billing microdata. I am also a Research Associate at OIPE, the Italian Observatory on Energy Poverty. My doctoral research at the University of Milan-Bicocca measured the health effects of air pollution and residential heating in Italy and Southern Europe.

I hold a Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics (Milan-Bicocca) and an M.Sc. in Statistical and Economic methods for decision-making (Turin), and spent a research period with the Environment and Energy group at VATT in Helsinki.