A recent focus of my research has been on behavioural aspects of climate economics. On this page you will find information on various projects on this theme. Financial support from the Leverhulme Trust for some of this work is gratefully acknowledged. 

Publications: 

• Social Influence and Carbon Dioxide Mitigation (joint with J.V. Ganguli), Journal of Public Economics 253 (2026), 105558.

Abstract: We investigate the potential of social influence to increase people’s willingness to mitigate their carbon impact. In a large-scale online experiment consisting of two waves of data collection participants are given the choice to spend any share of a 10 GBP endowment on mitigation. If a wave-1 participant is told that their (anonymized) choice will be observed by a wave-2 participant before that participant makes their choice, then the wave-1 participant’s willingness to mitigate (WTM) increases by about . This is not the case if their choice is observed by the wave-2 participant after that participant has already made their choice, which demonstrates that it is indeed the possibility of influence and not only observability that matters. Increasing influence at the extensive margin, i.e. increasing the number of wave-2 participants observing the choice, does not increase WTM. We also elicit beliefs and find that most participants overestimate how much influence they have. 

• Demand For Green Skills in an Evolving Landscape (joint with E. Arenas-Arroyo, J. Fabian, B. Schmidtpeter and M. Serafinelli), RF working paper 2025.

Abstract: How does firms’ skill demand change as the business landscape evolves? We present evidence from the green transition by analyzing how hurricanes impact demand for green skills. These disasters signal the risks of not acting on environmental issues. Using data from U.S. online job postings (2010–2019) and hurricane paths, we create a new measure of green job postings. Firms in areas affected by hurricanes are 6.4% more likely to post jobs that require green skills after the event, particularly those serving local markets.

• Collective Action under Escalating Dynamic Risk (joint with D. R. Kurian and D. van Dolder), coming soon.