Research

Working Papers:

Banking Deregulation and Household Consumption of Durables (with Evren Damar, Caitlin McKennie, and Mirko Moro)

This paper investigates the impact of increased credit availability on purchasing of new appliances and home renovations, along with this impact on electricity use and time spent on household chores.

Electoral Incentives and Firm Behavior: Evidence from U.S. Power Plant Pollution Abatement (with Matt Doyle, Emiliya Lazarova, and Corrado Di Maria)

This paper estimates how political party and re-election status of governors alters power plant spending on water pollution abatement.

Less is More: The Impact of Auto Lender Risk on Household Auto Purchases (with Caitlin McKennie and Mirko Moro)

This paper uses bankruptcy reform as an exogenous change in credit risk for lenders to understand its impact on household car purchases.

Natural Gas Transportation Price Regulation and the Dash for Gas (with Greer Gosnell)

This paper finds that allowing natural gas transportation contracts to trade at market prices led to increases in natural gas power plant utilization.


Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications (*=undergrad or MS student at time of writing):

Pass-Through in Residential Retail Electricity Competition Evidence from Pennsylvania, Utilities Policy, accepted (with Christina Simeone and Ben Gilbert)

This paper estimates the cost pass-through of wholesale electricity and renewable obligation costs on retail prices.


Coal Demand, Market Forces, and US Coal Mine Closures, Economic Inquiry, accepted (with Brett Watson and Josh Linn) Working Paper

This paper use a structural model of coal mine profits to estimate the impact of several factors on coal mine closures.

Inter-Regional Coal Mine Competition in the US: Evidence from Rail Restriction, Energy Economics, accepted (with Kanishka Kacker) Working Paper

This paper analyzes how the Appalachian coal mines responded to a mudslide that restricted movements of coal out of the Powder River Basin for about a year.

Updating Allowance Allocations in Cap-and-Trade: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program , Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2021, 105, 102380 (with Pete Maniloff) Working Paper

This paper uses the different allocation mechanisms chosen by states in the NOx Budget Program to test how regulated firms, power plants in this case, respond to an updating allocation relative to a fixed allocation.

Who (Else) Benefits from Electricity Deregulation? Coal Prices, Natural Gas and Price Discrimination, Economic Inquiry, 2020, 58(3), 1053-1075, (with Jon Hughes) Working Paper

This paper demonstrates that transportation firms use their market power to extract rents by altering delivered coal prices at deregulated coal-fired power when natural gas prices change at nearby gas-fired power plants.

Effects of Stricter Environmental Regulations on Resource Development, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2019, 96, 60-87 (with Michael Redlinger) Working Paper

This paper uses a quasi-experiment in the state of North Dakota to test how well-bonding requirements alter firms incentives to drill for shale oil.

Interfirm Learning in Environmental Safety: Evidence from the Bakken, Applied Economics Letters, 2019, 51(28), 3081-3090 (with Pete Maniloff and Michael Redlinger)

This paper shows that endogenous matching on firm type between oil operators and rig companies, not experience working together, drive environmental impacts at oil wells.

Cleaner Nudges? Policy Labels and Investment Decision-making ,The Energy Journal, 2018: 39(6), 27-51 (with Mirko Moro and Mohammad Rahman)

This paper uses a labelled cash transfer in the UK to determine whether households alter their consumption of goods that are substitutes for the good labelled by the transfer.

Changes in Institutional Design and Extraction Path, Environment and Development Economics, 2018, 23 (4), 478-494 (with Mohammad Kemal) Working Paper

This paper uses a change in property rights for oil & gas in Indonesia to determine whether firms increase the extraction rate of oil & gas.

A Look Upstream: Electricity Market Restructuring, Risk, Procurement Contracts and Efficiency, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2018: 57, 35-83 (with Corrado Di Maria and Emiliya Lazarova) Working Paper

Proof of Concept that Requiring Energy Labels for Dwellings Can Induce Retrofitting ,Energy Economics, 2018: 69, 204-212 (with David Comerford and Mirko Moro) Working Paper

Efficiency and Environmental Impacts of Electricity Restructuring on Coal-fired Power Plants, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management , 2017: 81, 1-18 (w/ Ron Chan, Harrison Fell, and Shanjun Li),

Mandate a Man to Fish?: Technological Advance in Cooling Systems at U.S. Thermal Electric Plants, Water Resources Research, 2016: 52(2), 1418-1426 (w/ Victor Peredo-Alvarez, Whitney Trainor-Guitton, and Allen Bellas)

Green Hypocrisy?: Environmental Attitudes and Residential Space Heating Expenditure, Ecological Economics, 2014: 107, 76-83 (w/ Laura Traynor* and Mirko Moro)

Should we be worried about the Green Paradox? Announcement Effects of Title IV of the Acid Rain Program, European Economic Review, 2014: 69(C), 143-162 (w/ Corrado Di Maria and Edwin van der Werf)

Voluntary Programs to Encourage Diffusion: The Case of the Combined Heat-and-Power Partnership, The Energy Journal, 2014: 35(1), 161-173 (w/ Andreas Ferrara*)

Technological Advance in Cooling Systems at U.S. Power Plants, Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, 2013: 2(2), (w/Allen Bellas and Duane Finney*)

Determinants of the Green Electricity Tariff Uptake in the UK, Energy Policy, November 2013: 62(1), 920-933 (w/ Ronnie MacPherson*)

Hedging in Coal Contracts under the Acid Rain Program, Land Economics, August 2012: 88(3), 561-570

Contract Renegotiation and Rent Re-Redistribution: Who Gets Raked Over the Coals?, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, September 2011: 62(2), 155-165 (w/Lea Kosnik)

Evidence of Innovation and Diffusion Under Tradable Permit Programs, International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, May 2011: 5(1) 1-22 (w/ Allen Bellas)

Effects of Spatial Pattern and Economic Uncertainties on Freshwater Habitat Restoration Planning: a Simulation Exercise, Restoration Ecology, November 2010: 18(S2), 354-369 (w/ Aimee Fullerton, Ashley Steel, and Yuko Caras)

Technological Progress in Particulate Removal Equipment at U.S. Coal Burning Power Plants, Journal of Regulatory Economics, October 2010: 38(2) 180-192(w/ Allen Bellas)

Evaluating Voluntary Measures with Treatment Spillovers: The Case of Coal Combustion Products Partnership, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy(Topics) Vol. 9 : Issue 1, Article 36

Determinants of Contract Duration: Further Evidence from Coal-Fired Power Plants, Review of Industrial Organization, May 2009: 34(3) 217-229 (w/ Maria Kozhevnikova)

Impacts of Market-based Environmental and Generation Policy on Scrubber Electricity Usage, The Energy Journal, April 2008: 29(2) 151-164 (w/Allen Bellas)

Bush v. Gore and the Effect of New Source Review on Power Plant Emissions, Environmental and Resource Economics, August 2008: 40(4) 571-591 (w/ Josh Linn)

Did State Regulation of Power Plants Cause an Increase in Pollution Exportation? , Economics Letters, February 2008: 98(2) 213-219 (w/ Allen Bellas)

The 1990 Clean Air Act and the Implicit Price of Sulfur in Coal, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy (Topics), Vol 7 Issue 1, Article 41 (w/Allen Bellas)

Using Wavelet Analysis to Detect Changes in Water Temperature Regimes at Multiple Scales: Effects of Multi-Purpose Dams in the Willamette River Basin, River Research & Applications, May 2007: 351-359 (w/ Ashley Steel)

Technological Change for Sulfur Dioxide Scrubbers Under Market-Based Regulation, Land Economics, November 2005: 81(4) 546-556 (w/ Allen Bellas)