Research Projects

The EU is committed to fighting climate change by shifting to a climate-neutral economy with zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, requiring all member states to design and implement the necessary reforms that support the EU climate targets. The objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of several measures adopted to achieve their objectives, as well as (potential) unintended effects. The project is structured in two general objectives and proposes contributions both on theoretical and empirical grounds.

The first general objective deals with interventions aimed at reducing energy poverty and social inequality. Geopolitical tensions and energy market volatility have confronted households with significant obstacles to achieving energy security, particularly the most vulnerable ones. The government has implemented new measures and expanded the coverage of those already in place to offset the rise in electricity prices These include the Bono Social Eléctrico (BSE) or the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) price comparator. Conscious that consumers are often unaware of the type of electricity supplier they have, or the conditions associated with the various tariffs available, in this first objective we analyse the relative effectiveness of different methods of information delivery on individual electricity consumption behaviour. In addition, we examine the factors that may explain why public support, such as BSE does not always reach vulnerable families. Within this objective, we also explore the impact of renewable energies on energy poverty. While the use of renewable energy plays a central role in climate change mitigation and a clean energy transition, support schemes to encourage investment may end up increasing energy poverty and income inequality if they are passed on to final consumers electricity bills.

On the other hand, while significant progress is being made in the electricity sector, the lack of progress in transport hinders the effort to reduce CO2 emissions. In this context, electric vehicles emerge as a promising solution to reduce fossil fuel consumption. However, there are still many barriers to electric vehicle adoption (EV), and many countries have implemented fiscal incentives to increase EV adoption. The second general objective deals with the effectiveness fiscal incentives on EV adoption taking advantage of the differences in tax incentives for the purchase of EV between Communities.

Additionally, within this objective not only do we assess the effect of interventions on individuals mobility decisions, but also how these decisions contribute to improve air quality. Finally, we address (i) the costs in terms of lost economic growth from shifting towards more energy efficient productive processes and (ii) the impact of the uneven adoption of National Energy and Climate Plans on energy efficiency and CO2 emissions.

Each specific objective requires an appropriate database that will be constructed at the onset of the project, from downloading data from official sources to conducting experiments. Both data and methodology will be selected for each objective so that the causal effect of interest can be identified.

Results from this project will be useful for policy advice and to guide the design of policy measures and interventions in the ongoing ecological transition.

The main objective of this research proposal is the analysis of the Spanish economy’s challenges with special attention to structural transformations, viewed under two premises. Firstly, the economic situation differed between the Spanish regions mainly as consequence of the existence of idiosyncratic characteristics and their different performance during and after the Great Recession. Secondly, the policy reaction is proving different as compared to the previous economic downturn, now characterised by the design of instruments devoted to mitigating the pandemic effects (especially in the labour market). These instruments are being implemented and funded by the European Commission (SURE, NextGenerationEU).

Principal investigator (PI) together with César Rodríguez, of a joint project of the University of Oviedo and the University of Huelva, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain

It proposes gaining an insight of the impact which the economic cycle has supposed for: a) individual welfare, by analysing how the situation of increased impoverishment in many Spanish households explains the loss in welfare; b) wage frontiers (both at a national and European level); c) worker productivity and how this is affected by gender or training.

It proposes an analysis of the resilience and adaptability of the Spanish regions by means of the construction of a counterfactual model which will serve as a benchmark for comparing the behaviour of regions as well as including explicitly the existing of spatial externalities. Additionally, an analysis of the behaviour of regional markets is proposed by estimating stochastic frontiers which will allow us to identify the aforementioned counterfactual. Furthermore, an analysis will be conducted as to how innovation affects employment in Spain by sector and region.

Finally, study self-employment, a type of employment which is being promoted in different ways both via fiscal changes and labour incentives which include reductions in social security contributions. As such, the third objective of this Report concentrates on this subject seeking to analyse its evolution during the years of recuperation following the economic crisis and trying to determine to what extent it responds to the opportunities for new forms of employment. Moreover, support programmes for this new type of employment will be evaluated.

Principal investigator (PI) together with César Rodríguez, of project of the University of Oviedo, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

We propose to combine two traditional research strands, namely efficiency analysis and  labour economics. By so doing, and in contrast to previous work, our purpose is to develop an adequate theoretical framework introducing assumptions on workers’ behaviour. These assumptions are important both from an economic and an econometric perspective. Workers are economic agents and, so, they are maximizers. Then, their decisions are determined endogenously. This theoretical endogeneity will cause econometric endogeneity. The methodology proposed will allow us to estimate the econometric models consistently, even recognizing theoretical endogeneity, which may imply an advance in this type of literature. 

Researcher of a project funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. Principal Investigator (PI): Cesar Rodriguez (University of Oviedo)

Member or the committee of experts