Peer-reviewed publications:
Lewis, Eric, Jiayang (Lyra) Wang, and Arvind P. Ravikumar (2025). “Incentives and Information in Methane Leak Detection and Repair.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
Herrnstadt, Evan, Ryan Kellogg, and Eric Lewis. (2024) “Drilling Deadlines and Oil and Gas Development”. Econometrica.
Previously circulated as: “The Economics of Time-Limited Development Options: The Case of Oil and Gas Leases.” NBER Working Paper 27165.
Brehm, Paul, and Eric Lewis. (2021) “Information Asymmetry, Trade, and Drilling: Evidence from an Oil Lease Lottery.” The RAND Journal of Economics. 52(3), 496-514.
Lewis, Eric. (2019) “Patchwork Policies, Spillovers, and the Search for Oil and Gas.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 11(1), 380-405
Work in progress:
Klopack, Benjamin, Eric Lewis, and Fernando Luco. “Rebuilding After the Storm: Firm Turnover and Consumer Welfare After Hurricane Harvey.” Supported by NSF award #2242349.
Abstract: Natural disasters may negatively impact nearby firms and, by extension, local consumers. In this paper, we use granular transaction-level data to measure the impact of Hurricane Harvey on firms and consumers. We show that the hurricane caused about 1% of firms to permanently exit and an additional 3% to temporarily close for at least two months, with most of the closures concentrated in a few heavily flooded areas. We then estimate a model of demand to quantify the welfare losses to consumers. We find that aggregate MSA-level consumer welfare impacts are small and range between 0.3% and 1.8% of total retail spending but reach more than 20% of spending in the worst-hit tracts. Post-hurricane entry only partially mitigates welfare losses in the most affected areas. We also estimate the efficacy of providing grants to damaged establishments to reduce the likelihood of business exit. Preliminary estimates show that the consumer welfare benefits to preventing exit exceed the cost of aid for a small but significant fraction of damaged firms.
Agerton, Mark, Diógenes Cruz, and Eric Lewis. "Seller Commitment to Reserve Prices: Revenue Implications for Federal Mineral Auctions"
Revise and Resubmit: The RAND Journal of Economics
Abstract: We study the impact of seller commitment in US federal auctions for mineral rights. These featured binding reserve prices plus a secondary sale at a lower price if the auction failed. We find eliminating secondary sales would have increased initial sales revenue by an average of $311 per parcel but decreased the sales probability by 2.9% on average, in turn decreasing royalty revenues. Had the US eliminated noncompetitive leasing in our auction sample, foregone royalties would have exceeded $19 million. Our results are relevant as the Inflation Reduction Act eliminated these secondary sales and Congress is now considering reintroducing them.
Garg, Teevrat, Minkyong Ko, Eric Lewis, and Chi Ta. “Scaling Low-Cost Digital Interventions: Lessons from an Energy Conservation Experiment.” Submitted.
Abstract: Digital tools hold promise for scaling energy conservation by giving households real-time information about their electricity use and costs. Yet whether such app-based interventions can meaningfully reduce consumption depends on users’ engagement. We conduct a natural field experiment on a random sample of 45,000 electricity customers in Hanoi, Vietnam, that tested two mobile-app interventions built on the utility’s smart-meter platform. One treatment (“price salience”) displayed each household’s current marginal price tier and consumption to date; the other (“billing salience”) showed consumption and bill to date. Across the full sample, neither intervention reduced electricity use on average, and we can rule out effects as small as one percent. To understand this precise null, we examine engagement with the app and find no effects on the extensive margin, and only limited responses on the intensive margin. Among households that already engage with the app, the price-salience treatment modestly increased engagement and led to small consumption declines late in the billing cycle, when marginal prices rise mechanically under the nonlinear tariff. These results underscore both the promise and limits of digital behavioral tools for demand management– while low-cost app integrations can inform attentive users, engagement does not necessarily scale with delivery, limiting the ability of such interventions to automatically generate population-level energy savings
Agerton, Mark, Ben Gilbert, and Eric Lewis. “Nonpoint Source Pollution with Small N”.
De Silva, Dakshina, Eric Lewis, and Aurélie Slechten. “Corporate Board Management and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.
Garg, Teevrat, Eric Lewis, and Chi Ta. “Marginal and Average Price Salience in Electricity Consumption.”
Kim, Myongjim, Eric Lewis, and Junyeol Ryu. “Energy Security and Competition in South Korea.”
Covert, Thomas, Evan Herrnstadt, Ryan Kellogg, Eric Lewis, and Richard Sweeney. “Implications of Royalties and Primary Terms for U.S. Hydrocarbon Production and Prices.”
Lewis, Eric and Joe Podwol. “Collusion, Complements, and Multimarket Contact.”
Other publications:
Chugh, Randy C., Nathan G. Goldstein, Eric K. Lewis, Jeffrey S. Lien, Deborah Minehart, and Nancy L. Rose (2016). “Economics at the Antitrust Division 2015–2016: Household Appliances, Oil Field Services, and Airport Slots.” Review of Industrial Organization. 49, 535-556
Lewis, Eric (2020). “How U.S. Patchwork Land Ownership and Regulation Affects Oil and Gas Drilling.” Takeaway Policy Brief for the Mosbacher Institute, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.
Herrnstadt, Evan, Ryan Kellogg, and Eric Lewis. “The Economics of Time-Limited Development Options: The Case of Oil and Gas Leases.” Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago Research Highlight.
Permanent working papers:
Lewis, Eric and Randy Chugh. (2019) “Common Ownership and Airlines: Evaluating an Alternate Ownership Data Source.” Economic Analysis Group Discussion Paper, US DOJ Antitrust Division
Pre-doctoral:
Johnson, Richard, Janette Kawachi, and Eric Lewis. (2009). “Older Workers on the Move: Recareering in Later Life”. With Richard Johnson and Janette Kawachi, and Eric Lewis. AARP Public Policy Institute.
Zedlewski, Sheila, Brendan Cushing-Daniels and Eric Lewis. (2008). “How Much Could Reverse Mortgages Contribute to Retirement Incomes?” Urban Institute Retirement Policy Brief.