Publications
Edenhofer, O., Gerster, A., Gessner, J., Myers, E., Pahle, M., Palmer, K. (2025). Targeted policies to break the deadlock on heating bans. Nature Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02343-9.
Gerster, A., S. Lamp (2024), Energy Tax Exemptions and Industrial Production, Economic Journal 134 (663): 2803–2834 .
[German Prize for Economics by the Joachim Herz Foundation 2022 (1st price in the category: junior researchers)] (Working paper version)
Gerster, A., M. Kramm (2024), Optimal Internality Taxation of Product Attributes, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 16 (3): 394-419 .
[IIPF Young Economist Award 2020} (Working paper version)
Andor, M., A. Gerster, J. Peters (2022). Information Campaigns for Residential Energy Conservation. European Economic Review, 144 (104094): 1-13 . (Link to paper)
Andor, M., A. Gerster, J. Peters, and C. M. Schmidt (2020). Social norms and energy conservation beyond the US. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (102351). (Working paper version)
[July 2020 research highlight in Nature Energy]
Andor, M., A. Gerster, K. Gillingham, M. Horvath (2020). Running a car costs much more than people think - stalling the uptake of green travel. Nature, 580: 453-455. (Link to paper)
[Coverage by Süddeutsche Zeitung, FAS, Spiegel, TAZ, WELT, WAZ, BR, TV quiz "Wer weiss denn sowas?"]
Frondel, M, A. Gerster, C. Vance (2020). The Power of Mandatory Quality Disclosure - Evidence from the German Housing Market. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 7 (1): 181-208. (Working paper version)
[Coverage by WELT]
Andor, M., A. Gerster, S. Sommer (2019). Consumer Inattention, Decision Heuristics and the Role of Energy Labels. The Energy Journal, 41 (1): 83-122. (Working paper version)
[USAEE/IAEE 2016 Best Working Paper Award]
Andor, M., M. Frondel, A. Gerster, S. Sommer (2019). Cognitive Reflection and the Valuation of Energy Efficiency. Energy Economics, 84 (Supplement 1).
Andor, M., A. Gerster, L. Götte (2019). How effective is the European Union energy label? Evidence from a real-stakes experiment. Environmental Research Letters, 14 (4). (Link to paper)
[Coverage by WELT; Video by WELT]
Gerster, A. (2016), Negative Price Spikes at Power Markets - The Role of Energy Policy. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 50 (3): 271–289. (Working paper version)
Working Papers
Disaggregate Consumption Feedback and Energy Conservation (with Mark. A. Andor and Lorenz Götte) [conditionally accepted at Economic Journal] [video by Latest Thinking]
Novel information technologies hold the promise to improve decision making. In the context of smart metering, we investigate the impact of providing households with appliance-level electricity feedback. In a randomized controlled trial, we find that the provision of appliance-level feedback creates a conservation effect of an additional 5% relative to a group receiving standard (aggregate) feedback. These conservation effects are largely driven by reductions in electricity use of 10% to 15% during peak hours. Consumers with appliance-level feedback hold more accurate beliefs about the energy consumption of different appliances, consistent with the mechanism in our accompanying model. Our result suggests that conservation effects from a smart-meter rollout will be much larger if appliance-level feedback can be provided. Based on a sufficient statistics approach, we estimate that appliance-level feedback could raise consumer surplus by about 570 to 600 million Euro per annum for German households.
Willful Ignorance and Moral Behavior (with Raphael Epperson) [R&R Management Science]
Consumers' willful ignorance about the consequences of their actions may impede moral behavior. We test this concern in a real-world context based on a laboratory experiment and field data. We find that willful ignorance about farming practices increases consumption of meat from intensive farming, both in the laboratory and at university canteens. Individuals who prefer to avoid information are particularly responsive to it, yet their behavioral response vanishes after two weeks. Both findings demonstrate the difficulty of addressing willful ignorance through information interventions.
Selected Work in Progress
Climate Policy Uncertainty and Household Investment (with Paul Grass, Kathrin Kaestner, and Michael Kramm)
Premium Programs for Energy Conservation: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Experiment (with Manuel Frondel, Kathrin Kaestner, Michael Pahle, and Puja Singhal)
The Alignment Effect of Auditing - Evidence from Energy Efficiency Retrofits (with Johannes Gessner and Michael Kramm)
The Impact of Carbon Trading on Industry: Evidence from German Manufacturing Firms (with Jakob Lehr, Sebastian Pieper, and Ulrich J. Wagner)
Warm-Glow versus Cold-Prickle Revisited: Evidence from the Field (with Mark A. Andor, Michael K. Price, and Lukas Tomberg)
Locus of Control and Pro-social Behavior (with Mark A. Andor, James C. Cox, Michael K. Price, Stephan Sommer, Lukas Tomberg)
Carbon Footprints of European Manufacturing Jobs: Stylized Facts and Implications for Climate Policy (with Ulrich J. Wagner and several co-authors)